Consequences
by 10Blue10
Summary: APOLOGIES FOR THE INCONVENIENCE, BUT THIS STORY IS NOW OFFICIALLY CANCELLED :(
1. The Magician's Apprentice Pt 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: Welcome back! To the latest instalment of 'The Doctor's Wife AU', series 9; it's been a long time coming, but chapter one of 'Consequences' is finally here! I don't know how long it will be before chapter two emerges, or any other chapter, but I can say that I've planned out the majority of the story. Quite a lot is going to change, and be changed, and even I can't wait to see where it goes. Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I give you…

The Magician's Apprentice – Part One

"A bookshop?" the Corsair asked incredulously, "We have access to the entirety of time and space, and you want to go find a bookshop. We do have a massive library, you know" he pointed out.

"We've also been knocking about for seven hundred and seventy three years, give or take. Hands up, who's read all of the books in the library? Except for the boring ones, obviously" the Doctor challenged, raising his own hand. One by one, the rest of them raised their own hands. "That's what I thought" the Time Lord nodded, satisfied. He gestured to the boxes of books that they'd heaved into the console room and explained, "Hence why we're decluttering".

"The Corsair might have a point" Flavia acknowledged, "You have to admit, there are plenty of other rooms that could use a declutter more than the library".

"See! Even _Flavia_ agrees with me".

The Doctor gave a petulant frown. "What rooms?" he demanded, his Scottish burr becoming more pronounced when he became irritable.

"Well, your study, for one thing" Romana suggested with a hint of amusement. Her husband had the habit of spending hours in his study and never putting anything back where he found it when he was finished.

"No, no, no. That doesn't need decluttering, it's organised chaos. I know exactly where everything is in there" the Doctor insisted stubbornly, "I tell you what does need decluttering – your room" he declared, pointing at his teenage daughter.

Emily stared at her dad incredulously. "My room? Dad, I tidied my room last week".

"But it's full of _stuff_ " he complained, "And not just furniture, your wardrobe is full of too short clothes and you have an iPad and a computer, I mean why do you need both, and on top of that you've plastered your walls with pictures of – of boys! Boys with stupid, spiky haircuts and unnaturally white teeth" the Doctor grumbled, as if he were railing against a crime against nature.

"Didn't you use to have a stupid spiky haircut?" the Corsair asked irreverently. The Doctor shot him a glare that could have melted lead.

"Don't worry, dear" Romana said soothingly, "Emily's just going through a phase".

" _Mum"_ the teenager hissed.

"It'd better just be a phase" the Doctor muttered tetchily.

The TARDIS dematerialised at last, and Flavia moved to check the readings from the scanner. "It's not a bookshop" she called in a deadpan tone, not at all surprised that they hadn't gone where they intended to.

"So, where is it?" Emily asked curiously.

Flavia frowned at the readouts and twiddled a knob on the scanner. "I can't tell, there's something interfering with the TARDIS sensors. It almost looks like someone's trying to send a Morse code message with…with some kind of mobile device".

"A distress call?" the Doctor asked immediately, coming over to look at the reading himself.

"I doubt it, it's encoded" she replied, before shrugging, "But you never know".

"Wait, wait, shush!" the Corsair hissed suddenly, "Listen!"

They all fell silent and strained their ears…and then they heard it. "Help me! Someone, please, help me!"

Moving surprisingly fast considering his elderly body, the Doctor strode up to the doors before anyone could stop him. "Wait here, I'll be back in a minute" he assured the others, before stepping out into a smoky, muddied field. He could hear the distant sounds of battle; and more pressingly, there was a young boy surrounded by hand mines – a crude combination of bio-programming and genetic engineering – about fifty feet ahead of him.

"Help me!" the boy shouted desperately through the white smoke. A cylindrical device suddenly came flying towards him, spinning end over end, and landed at his feet. He heard a voice speaking somewhere ahead of him. "Your chances of survival are about one in a thousand. So here's what you do. You forget the thousand, and you concentrate on the one. Pick it up. I said, pick it up!"

Very carefully, he crouched down and picked up the device. "I'm straight ahead of you, about fifty feet" said the unfamiliar voice. "Can you see me?"

The smoke and mist cleared enough for him to see a tall, grey haired man and a strange blue box that he could have sworn hadn't been there before.

"The device in your hand is creating an acoustic corridor, so that we can talk. Do you understand?"

"Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm just a passer-by. I was looking for a bookshop. How do you think I'm doing?"

"This isn't a bookshop".

"No, this is a war. A very old one, going by the mix of technology. Which war is this? I get them all muddled up".

"It's just the war".

"Where am I? What planet is this?"

"Well, neither do I. I try never to understand. It's called an open mind. Now, _you_ have got to make a choice".

"A choice?"

"Yes, you have got to decide that you're going to live. Survival is just a choice. Choose it now!"

"If I move, they'll get me!"

"I told you, you have one chance in a thousand. But one is all you ever need. What's your name? Come on, faith in the future. Introduce yourself! Tell me the name of the boy who isn't going to die today".

"Davros" the boy replied, and the Doctor's eyes widened in shock. "My name is Davros" the boy repeated, peering through the mist at the man, who was…going back inside the box? "Hello? Are you still there? Please, you've got to help me. You said I could survive. You said you'd help me. Help me!"

/

"Doctor, what's wrong?" Romana asked, concerned, as her husband darted back inside the TARDIS. He didn't answer, rushing up to the console and dematerialising. From the way his hands were shaking and how he was staring, something had obviously spooked him. "Dad, why are we leaving?" asked Emily, "What about the person outside, they need help!"

"No!" he snapped, shaking his head vehemently, "I can't – we, we can't…c-couldn't"- he stuttered. Romana could sense his fear, guilt and shame, but she couldn't tell what the catalyst was, he wasn't letting her see his memory of what had happened outside.

"You couldn't save them?" she guessed, laying a sympathetic hand on his arm. The Doctor pulled her into a sudden, tight hug, burying his face in her hair. Romana couldn't help but ask him, _Theta, darling, what happened out there?_

 _I can't…I don't want to think about it_ he replied, his hearts twisting with guilt; for abandoning a scared child, for lying to his family…part of him wanted to rush right back, save the younger version of Davros, try to put him on a better path and stop the Daleks from being created – but the darker part of him hoped, as terrible as it was to think it, that time might be in flux here, that Davros might die and never grow up to invent the Daleks…which meant the Time War would never happen either.

They went all the way across the universe, as far away from Skaro as possible, and saved an entire city from invaders. The Doctor's memories didn't change, and his fellow co-pilots gave no indication that theirs had either. Davros lived, the Daleks were still at large, and Gallifrey was still lost. So was his sonic screwdriver, actually…he dreaded to think that Davros had used it to help build the Dalek travel machines or grow the mutants themselves.

To make matters worse, he began to hear rumours that someone was looking for him on behalf of an old enemy, an enemy at the end of his life. The Doctor figured that Davros would remember their encounter and seek revenge eventually...but which of them would die first?

/

 _A small boy was dragged down into the mud by eyeballed hands, screaming…A withered, half-cyborg man ranted maniacally over his new, most deadly invention…a war of attrition ended with both sides annihilating the other in a desperate bid for peace…a crippled, mad scientist used a device he'd been 'given' as a child to perfect the travel casing for his abominations…_

The Doctor moaned softly, asleep in a chair in the parlour, his eyes flickering back and forth under their lids.

 _A darkened chamber, pillars wreathed in glowing cables, mysterious figures gliding between them…converging on him, cornering him…warning him... "The Hybrid…two deadly warrior races…destruction and heartbreak…the Hybrid is"-_

He jerked awake with a gasp. "Theta, are you alright?" asked Romana as she hurried into the room, having sensed her husband's distress. The Doctor got to his feet, wincing at the pins and needles, and pulled her into an embrace.

"I'm fine, love. I just had a nightmare, that's all".

Romana pulled back to look him in the eyes and asked sympathetically, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Err, no, not right now. In fact, there's something I need to take care of…I won't be long" he promised, giving her a kiss and then leaving the room. Romana sighed; he didn't think she could tell, but she knew something was bothering him. She was his wife, for goodness sake. Why, she wondered, wouldn't he trust her with it?

/

Thunder rumbled in the skies above Karn. The Sisterhood stood vigil around a lake, burning torches illuminating the wild and rocky landscape. Their leader, Ohila, called a greeting to the robed, scale faced figure in their midst. "Welcome, Colony Sarff. We are the Sisterhood of Karn. If you do not leave our world immediately, we will take your skin". The way she spoke, it was not a threat so much as a statement.

"Where is the Doctor?" Sarff demanded. He had searched everywhere for the Time Lord, for any of them, but the Doctor in particular. He'd gone to the Maldovarium, the Shadow Proclamation, and now he'd come here.

"Where he always is" Ohila replied, almost tauntingly, "Right behind you, and one step ahead. Tread carefully when you seek the Doctor, Colony Sarff, or he will be the last thing you find" she warned.

"Davros, creator of the Daleks, dark Lord of Skaro" Sarff began.

"What of him?"

"Davros is dying".

"Davros is ancient. He should have been dust centuries ago".

"He has a message for the Doctor".

"Then you will give it to me" Ohila commanded. Sarff glared at her and writhed in his robes, as if trying to transform. "Your powers mean nothing here" Ohila informed him, "Give me the message and leave".

"Tell the Doctor, Davros knows. Davros remembers. Tell him he must face Davros one last time" Sarff replied. Thunder and lightning crashed as Sarff turned and glided away, his black robes dragging on the ground behind him. "Davros knows. Davros remembers…" he repeated.

When he was out of sight, Ohila turned and looked over her shoulder at some boulders. "Doctor?" she asked, "What have you done?"

The Doctor didn't answer, not until Ohila approached and stood staring pointedly at him. "Something I regret" he replied at last, grudgingly.

Ohila accepted the non-answer with grace. "He has asked to see you. His servants seek you everywhere. Will you go?" she asked; she was speaking, of course, of Davros. How the decrepit despot had survived the destruction of his Crucible, she didn't know nor care.

"No" the Doctor replied immediately, far too quickly. Ohila gave him a knowing stare and inquired, "Why do you always lie?"

"Why do you always assume I'm lying?"

"It saves time. The truth – will you go?"

"No" he repeated stubbornly.

"When?" she asked knowingly; a moment later, he grudgingly admitted, "…Soon".

"Why, did something happen?"

"No".

"Was it recent?"

"…Yes".

"Whatever it was, you owe that creature nothing".

"He and I've known each other a long time".

"You've been enemies for all of it".

"An enemy's just a friend you don't really know yet. Sorry. What, was that me being cynical again?"

"Aren't we friends, Doctor?"

"That's different, I don't like you!"

Ohila laughed. "Which means you can trust me" she pointed out.

"I can like and trust someone at the same time" the Doctor informed her. Ohila didn't need to guess who he was talking about.

"Do they know of this?" she inquired. The Doctor waited several moments before he answered.

"I haven't told them…I do have a plan, you know. Just not one they should know about yet".

"Is that why you came here?"

"I need a favour" said the Doctor, taking from his pocket a golden circular disc engraved with Gallifreyan writing. "Keep this safe – on your eternal lives, do not let it fall into the wrong hands. Don't try to open it either, you'll just be wasting your time". He handed her the disc and waited until she'd placed it in her robes, before he continued, "I won't go straight away. I'll hang out for a while. Take the gang on holiday, somewhere out of the way. Soften the blow a bit".

"You realise, if this plan of yours should fail, you will be embarking on an enterprise that will end in your destruction".

"You could say that about being born".

"Wherever you go, you will have people who care enough to stop you".

"It's them I'm doing this for. Look after them for me, if I don't make it" the Doctor requested. He stood up and walked away without a backwards glance, but Ohila had the last word in the end. "Anyone can hide from an enemy, Doctor" she called after him, "No one, from a friend…or their family".

/

Colony Sarff slithered into his master's chamber. In the centre of the room, Davros sat in his life-support, hooked up to a multitude of tubes keeping him alive. His head rested on one shrivelled hand, whilst the other clutched a sonic device, with a green light glowing dully at the tip. "Doctor" he murmured, "Doctor… Doctor…"

"You are dreaming, Lord Davros".

"No; I am anticipating".

"They cannot be found".

"Of course they can" Davros assured Sarff, "They all have the same weakness. If you seek the Time Quintet, first seek their friends".

/

Millions of lightyears and centuries away, Clara was busy teaching her English class. She'd had to postpone a discussion on Jane Austen (lovely woman) when she'd caught yet another student chewing gum. Normally, she wouldn't have minded, but it was important to be firm with these kids or they'd walk all over her. Goodness knew Courtney Woods had proven that.

She held the wastebasket in front of Ryan and looked at him pointedly. He spat the wad of gum into the basket, and then asked, "Will I get it back after school?"

His classmates all made noises of disgust. Clara raised an eyebrow and inquired, "How will you know which one's yours?"

Ryan blinked, feeling foolish, and the other children laughed. They soon stopped at the look their teacher was giving them. "Fine, then. Right" said Clara, putting the bin down. "Now, where was I? Jane Austen; amazing writer, brilliant comic observer, and strictly among ourselves, a phenomenal kisser…" she trailed off, staring out of the window. Something didn't look right…

"Miss?" prompted one of her other pupils, Alison, "Miss?"

"Miss?" asked Ryan.

"Is she okay?" Alison wondered.

The class watched in confusion as Clara hurried to her desk, picked up a marker pen and returned to the window. She drew a circle around the thing that had caught her attention - an aeroplane, hanging motionless in the sky. "Everybody, turn on their phones" she instructed suddenly; confused, the kids obeyed. "News websites and Twitter" Clara added, opening the window to get a better look.

"Twitter?" Ryan asked in surprise.

Clara simply replied, "Hashtag, #ThePlanesHaveStopped".


	2. The Magician's Apprentice Pt 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

The Magician's Apprentice – Part Two

The world was going wild, and all eyes were on the sky. "Reports are coming in of planes hanging apparently motionless in the sky" declared a BBC newsreader. On the screen behind them, images appeared of the frozen aircraft over London, Dubai, Paris, New York…

"…Footage of passenger jets, which have seemingly come to a complete standstill in mid-air…"

Clara hurried to get her things together, knowing she'd be needed. Her fellow teacher, Mr Dunlop came into the classroom and told her, "Miss Oswald, a call at the office".

"Yeah, that would probably be UNIT".

"They're telling me you're needed. They were going to put me through to the Prime Minister" he said, perplexed.

"Mister Dunlop, sorry" Clara said apologetically, "I have to take the rest of the day off owing to a, err, personal crisis". She left before he could ask what she meant, pulling out her ringing mobile as she ran. "Yes. Yes, yes, yes, I'm coming" she told the person on the other end, "No, don't send a helicopter. Think it through". Clara hung up and put on her helmet, climbing astride her motorcycle. _Thank you, Corsair_ she thought briefly as she revved the engine, _Now where the heck are you guys?_

She arrived at the Tower, and was escorted into UNIT HQ by two soldiers. When they arrived, Clara could hear Kate Stewart saying "The planes aren't responding. No, none of them, it's radio silence. I've got to go. Tell the President I'll call him back" she finished, hanging up just as Clara entered. "They've disconnected their phone" she told Clara, "We can't reach them. Have you tried?"

"We don't know enough yet" said Clara, "The Doctor doesn't appreciate gossip, and you know how stubborn he is".

"Gossip?" asked Kate.

"How many planes?" inquired Clara by way of reply; one of the UNIT researchers, Jac, ran some numbers and announced "4,165 aircraft currently airborne".

"That's a lot of passengers" Kate said worriedly.

"That's a lot of fuel" Clara pointed out.

Kate paled slightly, her eyes widening. "Oh dear God, yes, it is".

"Okay, so, what could you do with 4,000 flying bombs?" Clara questioned.

Jac reported, "Ah, well, 439 nuclear power stations currently active".

"What else?" Kate wondered.

"I dunno…err, fault lines. Earthquakes, a tsunami?"

"Running simulations now" replied Jac.

"So this is an attack?" Kate assumed.

Clara pointed out "What kind of an attack advertises? Why show somebody what you can do? Why not just do it?" she asked rhetorically, before inquiring "What's actually happened to the planes? What are the pilots saying?"

"We, we can't contact them" Kate informed her. Jac then explained, "The planes haven't stopped. They're actually frozen. Like, frozen in time. Pardon my sci-fi, but this is beyond any human technology".

"Okay, so we need the Quintet" said Kate, "Why would they disconnect their phone? We can't contact the Doctor on his mobile, either".

"Kate, we can't just phone them and bleat, the Doctor will go Scottish. He'll be calling us pudding brains for weeks" Clara insisted, trying to rally them to figure some of it out on their own. "Come on. What have we got? What do we know? It's not an attack, it's not an invasion, because, well, that doesn't come with a fair warning. So, somebody needs our attention. Somebody who needs to put a gun to our heads to make us listen…Oh".

"Oh?"

Before Clara could explain her theory, another UNIT employee called, "We've got a message, the Doctor channel".

"Sorry, what?" asked Clara, following Kate over to the computer the man was working on.

"He never uses it" said Kate, "I doubt he remembers it even exists".

"Then who is it?"

"Decrypting" said Mike, the researcher, "We're getting text through, I think".

"Texting? Definitely not the Doctor" Clara remarked, before adding thoughtfully, "It could be Emily, though".

Words appeared on the computer screen - ' **You so fine** '.

"Have you got any more?" asked Kate, puzzled by the message.

"Coming" replied Mike. More words typed themselves out onto the screen – ' **You blow my mind. Hey Missy, you so fine, you so fine, you blow my mind! Hey Missy!** ' – the penny dropped for Clara and Kate. Oh no. Not _her._

The Time Lady herself appeared on the monitor screen, sitting at a café table. "Today, I shall be talking to you out of" - her face was suddenly a three dimensional projection, and they all jerked back, "the square window!"

"What was that?" Kate demanded, flustered, "How did she do that?"

"Dunno, some sort of psychic projection or something" Jac replied unhelpfully.

"Oh, great, thanks".

Missy waved a dismissive hand and said "Okay, cutting to the chase. Not dead, back, big surprise, never mind. I'm in a lovely little square in one of your, oh, I don't know, hot countries. There's a light breeze coming from the east, this coffee is a buzz-monster in my brain, and I'm going to need eight snipers".

"Eight what?"

"Three for each heart, and two for my brain stem" Missy explained, "You'll have to switch me off fast, before I can regenerate. How fast can you get here? Ooh, I'll need to arrange you a flight corridor" she considered, licking her finger and pressing buttons on her controller.

"Why do you need snipers?" Kate demanded suspiciously.

Missy looked up and smirked at them. "Because it's the only way she'll feel safe enough to talk to me" she explained, looking at Clara, "Shall we say four o'clock?"

/

The church behind Missy tolled its bells four times; ah, and there were the snipers getting into position, right on schedule. Missy glanced down at the six red points of light dancing on her bosom, and smirked, "Oh, saucy". She opened a compact mirror and checked her make-up; as well as making sure that the other two snipers were aiming at the back of her head.

Two black cars drove into the abandoned square (it had been such fun watching the humans scream and scatter after she blasted one of them to atoms – but really, he'd been leering at her, she was practically acting in self-defence) and several agents emerged, as well as Clara Oswald. She walked over to Missy, causing doves pecking about to scatter and fly away. Missy gestured for her to take a seat. "Go on, then".

Clara sat down opposite Missy, not once taking her eyes off the Time Lady. Missy sipped her espresso and inquired, "How's your so-called brother? Still tremendously dead, I expect?"

"Still dead, yeah" Clara glared at Missy, "How come you're still alive?"

"Death is for other people, dear. Would you like to sit in the shade? I know how you humans burn" Missy remarked. Clara tried not to visibly react to the implied threat; but Missy didn't attack anyone, she merely pressed some buttons on her controller, and one of the jets moved over them, casting them into shade. "Better?" asked Missy, before commenting, "I expect you've tried to contact them by now. Well, you should know, I can't find them either. No one can".

"That happens, now and then" Clara responded. The Time Quintet went off the radar all the time.

"Not like this" Missy replied, taking a golden disc from her pocket. It was engraved with Gallifreyan. "It's a Confession Dial" she said in answer to Clara's questioning stare.

"A what?"

"In your terms, a will. The Last Will and Testament of the Time Lord known as the Doctor, to be delivered, according to ancient tradition, to his closest friend, on the eve of his final day" Missy explained.

"Then why do you have it?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You just said it was supposed to be delivered to his closest friend. No offence, but you and he didn't seem all that chummy when you last met. If anything, you'd think it would have been delivered to _me_ ".

Missy glared at the slight. "I am the Doctor's oldest friend" she declared, "His best friend. I was there for him long before his precious _family._ You think you're important? You are…you see that couple over there?" she asked, nodding at a couple walking a little white dog just outside the square, "You're the puppy".

"Since when do you care about the Doctor?"

"Since always. Since the Cloister Wars. Since the night he stole the moon and the President's wife. Since he was a little girl. One of those was a lie. Can you guess which one?"

"You're not his friend. You keep trying to kill him".

"He keeps trying to kill me. It's sort of our texting. We've been at it for ages".

"I thought you said you didn't fancy him".

Missy looked repulsed. "Oh, don't be disgusting. We're Time Lords, not animals. Try, nano-brain, to rise above the reproductive frenzy of your noisy little food chain, and contemplate friendship. A friendship older than your civilisation, and infinitely more complex".

"So the Doctor is your bezzy mate and I'm supposed to believe that you've turned good?" Clara asked sarcastically.

"Good?" Missy repeated; without warning she disintegrated one of the Secret Service agents.

"Man down!"

"No…" Clara got up and went over to where the man had been standing. There was nothing but dust left.

"Man down!"

Missy, completely unconcerned, remarked "By the ring on his finger, he was married, and I, I think I detected some baby leakage on his jacket, so he had a family. No, I've not 'turned good'" she said mockingly, before killing another agent. "Ooh, wow, I'm on a roll. Thanks for bringing spares".

"Stop it. Just stop it. Don't shoot anybody else!" Clara demanded furiously. The callous Time Lady ignored her and told a third agent, "Oi, you, sweaty one, on your knees. Let's have a goodbye selfie for your kids" she suggested, inwardly grinning as the man obeyed.

"Missy, nobody else!"

"Say something nice".

" _No_ ".

"I'll kill everyone in this square".

"Start with me" Clara challenged, "Then what, eh? You came here for _my_ help".

"Because the Doctor is in danger".

"Make me believe you".

"How?"

"Release the planes".

"The planes are keeping me alive. I mean, there's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight naughty little snipers ready to kill me" Missy reminded her, pointing out each of them in turn.

"Yeah, on my command" Clara threatened, raising her hand, ready to give the signal and duck. "You keep saying the Doctor is your best friend. You said he's in danger. Show me you care. Make me believe".

After a few tense moments, Missy chose to acquiesce. She pressed a few buttons on her controller, and waved goodbye to the jet as it flew past with a roar of engines, as if nothing had happened. "It's only a basic Time Stop" she said dismissively, "Parlour trick; couldn't have done anything with them anyway".

Clara lowered her arm, and looked at the Dial lying on the table. "What does it say?" she inquired curiously.

"What does what say?"

"His confession" she clarified.

"It will only open when he's dead" Missy informed her ominously.

"Then it won't open, will it?"

"Question" Missy stated, "If the Doctor has one last night to live, if he's certain he's facing the end of his life, where, in all of space and time, would he go?"

"Here" Clara answered immediately. An agent brought a laptop to the table, showing remarkable calmness for a man who had just seen two of his colleagues murdered.

"Well, yes, Earth, obviously!" Missy agreed, "But where, when?"

Back at UNIT HQ, Kate Stewart and Jac were working on an algorithm to find likely points in time and space that the Time Quintet could be. "The algorithm generates probabilities based on crisis points, anomalies, anachronisms, and keywords" explained Jac, both to Kate and to Clara and Missy, who were listening in.

"Such as?" asked Kate.

"Blue box, Doctor…There we go. San Martino, Troy, multiples for New York, and three possible versions of Atlantis. It's easier than you'd think. The Doctor makes a lot of noise and he loves to make an entrance".

"But which one is _the_ one? Where are they now?"

Something occurred to Clara. "How is a Time Lord supposed to die?" she asked Missy, who replied, "Meditation, repentance and acceptance, contemplation of the absolute".

"Great, thanks" said Clara, before instructing Jac, "Change the algorithm. Eliminate the crisis points. Where is the Doctor making the most noise, but there isn't any crisis?" she asked rhetorically. If the Doctor really was dying, there was no way he'd do it the normal way. He'd want to go out with a bang. She sighed, "We're looking for a party".

Once all the crisis points had been eliminated, and there were thousands of them, only one dot was left – in the UK. "There they are" Clara smiled, "'Do not go gentle into that good night'".

"You go, girl!" Missy cheered, slapping something onto Clara's wrist before she could pull away. The next thing Clara knew, she was dropping out of the Vortex onto hard stone. Missy tumbled next to her and sat up, grinning like a loon. "Whoo, whoo whoo! Mummy, do it again! Vortex manipulators" she explained, holding her wrist up, "Yours is slaved to mine. Cheap and nasty time travel".

Clara got to her feet and looked around. They were on the ramparts of a castle, with stands in the courtyard filled with locals all clapping and shouting. A bearded man stood in the middle of the makeshift arena, brandishing a double headed axe. "Face me, Magician!" he roared, "Face me!"

"You probably want to throw up, don't you?" Missy commented, "Pick a local. According to you, this is where the Doctor is".

"And the rest of the Quintet".

"If he's with them".

"Of course he is, why wouldn't he be?"

"Well, men need their space. I should know; I used to be one".

"Okay, so how do we find them?" asked Clara, "How do we find the Quintet?"

"Anachronisms" Missy replied confidently, "The slightest, tiniest…"

The unmistakable sound of an electric guitar filled the air, and both of them looked down at the portcullis on the other side of the courtyard. "Anachronisms" Missy finished.

A tank – an actual tank – rolled into the courtyard in a swirl of dry ice, carrying the Quintet…Clara didn't know whether to laugh or face-palm. The Doctor and Corsair were standing back to back on the front of the tank, wearing shades and rocking guitars. Flavia, Romana and Emily were sitting on top, dressed in medieval robes; Romana and Emily were wearing tiaras, waving to the cheering crowd like royalty.

The two Time Lords finished their little duet and bowed to the crowd, who cheered and hollered, eating it all up. All of them looked surprisingly happy. "I didn't think they'd be so cheerful, if he's dying" she said aloud, without thinking.

Missy gave a scoff and replied, "What, you think he told them? How simple you are" she mocked. Clara frowned, but Missy ignored her in favour of looking down at the proceedings in the courtyard. She pressed something on her controller so that they could hear what was being said.

Back in the courtyard, the Doctor's 'assistant', Bors, lowered his axe in despair. "Dude!" he protested, "What was that?"

"You said you wanted an axe fight" the Doctor replied, as if it were obvious. There was some scattered laughter, and he insisted, "Oh, come on. In a few hundred years, that'll be really funny. It's a slow burner".

"A musical instrument is not an axe" Bors complained.

"Yes, and a daffodil is not a broadsword, but I still won the last round!" the Doctor grinned, and the crowd cheered.

"Only because I shot the sword out of his hand!" the Corsair riposted; the whole crowd laughed at that.

The Doctor ignored this, and helped his wife and daughter step down from the top of the armoured vehicle. "What do you think of our tank?" he asked Bors, "Don't worry, it isn't armed".

"I don't like it".

"No, neither do I" the Doctor admitted, "I bought it for my fish".

"Your fish?"

"I may have ordered online!"

There was an awkward silence, which the Corsair broke by remarking, "Okay, you can boo him for that one".

"Oh, come on! Hey!" the Doctor called over the chorus of 'boos!' that rose up. "Fish? Tank? Honestly, this stuff will be hilarious in a very few hundred years. Do please stick around".

Flavia frowned disapprovingly and said, "Doctor, please don't tell me you're blatantly causing anomalies in Earth's history just to give yourself an excuse to use bad jokes".

"Okay, I won't tell you that" he agreed straightaway, and grinned when everyone laughed. Some types of humour were just universally funny.

Clara thought Flavia had a good point. "What's the matter with him?" she wondered, "He's never like this. Why are they letting him get away with it?"

"Isn't that what family is for?" Missy asked, rather sarcastically. Clara looked back down in the courtyard; to her surprise, the Doctor looked up, right at her. "Wait, hang on. Did he just hear that? He doesn't know we're here, does he?"

His eyes slid from her to Missy, and he played the opening riff to 'Highway to Hell', before turning to Romana and playing the tune to 'Sweet Child O' Mine', whipping a flower out of his sleeve and handing it to her. "Hmm, I feel like he's trying to tell me something" Missy commented thoughtfully.

The Doctor pulled off his guitar and handed it to the Corsair, before addressing the crowd at large. "Now, you lot. We have been here all day, and it's been a great day!"

"A day?" the Corsair scoffed, "We've been here three weeks, mate, and considering how much ale I've drunk it's amazing I remember that and you don't".

"Three weeks? Time flies when you're having fun. I still don't understand that saying. Well, we've partied!" he declared theatrically, and everyone cheered. "Yes! I helped you dig a well, with a first-class, child-friendly visitor's centre! I've given you some top-notch maths tuition in a fun but relevant way. And I have also introduced the word "dude" several centuries early. Let me hear you!"

"Dude!"

"Are you a Renaissance?"

"Dude!"

"Are you a Medieval?"

"Dude!"

The Corsair joined in, pointing at a young man in armour. "I am a dragon slaying…"

"Dude!"

"We are all the young?"

"Dudes!"

"Do you two have _any_ idea how much temporal damage you could be causing?" Flavia demanded, exasperated.

"Oh, relax, V. I can just get rid of the tank" the Corsair said dismissively, flashing his sonic at the vehicle. It imploded. There was a pause, and then the crowd applauded, thinking it was another magic trick. Flavia rolled her eyes at the Corsair's posturing and said tersely, "Don't call me 'V', please".

"Aw, but it suits you!"

"I like it" the Doctor interrupted, before telling their audience, "I've got some sad news for you, dudes. Tonight, we're going to have to leave you; but before I do, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine" he said, turning and beckoning to Clara. She and Missy had come down from the ramparts whilst all the 'Dude!" shouting was going on.

Clara entered the courtyard, waving shyly at everyone, and hurried over to the Doctor. "How did you know I was here? Did you see me?" she asked him.

"I have very good eyes" he replied, before pulling her into a hug, much to her surprise.

"Oh, wow, we're doing hugging. That's new".

"Well, you know what they say. Hugging is a great way to hide your face" the Doctor reminded her. Clara was about to ask about him supposedly dying, when he nudged her towards Emily, who had come over to say hello.

"Clara! It's so great to see you again!"

"Yeah, you too…how long has it been for you? Cos I didn't notice before, but you look older" Clara remarked. The last time she'd seen the Quintet, Emily had looked about thirteen or fourteen – now she looked sixteen or seventeen, with fuller breasts and more defined features. She was starting to more clearly resemble her mother's previous incarnation, but with blonde hair rather than brown.

"I'm three hundred and fifty eight, now" Emily told her.

Clara smiled and said, "Happy belated birthday, then. Listen, your dad, is he…okay?"

"I dunno…he's been acting weird lately. He said he wanted to come here to meditate".

Clara raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that was our reaction" the Corsair quipped, before giving Clara a hug. "Hey. How did you get here?" he asked. Emily, Romana and Flavia all looked inquisitively at her, and Clara hesitated.

"Err…thing is…I sort of came here with…"

"Look out!" the Doctor exclaimed suddenly, pointing at Missy, "It's the wicked witch. Everybody hiss!"

The whole crowd booed and hissed; Missy just curtsied and waved a handkerchief, eating up the attention. Romana's jaw dropped. " _Her?_ "

Missy overheard, and remarked "It's lovely to see you again too. Yes, I'm not dead, big surprise, never mind. I'm more interested in what you're doing, Romana. Enjoying yourself, being treated like a queen when your dear, dear husband…" she held up the confession dial, "Is dying tomorrow".

Romana looked rapidly from Missy to the Doctor, and demanded, "Why does she have your confession dial?"

"He gave it to me, according to tradition".

"Liar" the Doctor snarled, striding over and snatching it out of her hand, "You stole it, from the Sisterhood of Karn".

"And why would _they_ have your confession dial?" Romana inquired.

"Not because I'm dying" he hastened to reassure her, "And even if I was going to die tomorrow, there's good news. It's still today!"

"Wait" Clara frowned, "If you're not dying, then why give that dial away?"

"Think of the name, Clara" the Doctor instructed, tapping her on the head with the disc, "Confession dial. There are secrets held in here, dangerous secrets. I want to keep them that way – secret. I told you, secrets keep us safe" he reminded her, tucking the dial into his pocket.

Suddenly, Bors began hacking and choking. The Corsair hurried over to help him. "Did you swallow one of the Doctor's marbles again? We told you last time, you don't swallow marb- yikes!" he grimaced, pulling a red and yellow banded snake from around Bors neck and tossing it away. Flavia winced and stepped back. She hated spiders, and she wasn't a big fan of snakes either.

The snake slithered past them and under the robes of…Colony Sarff. "Doctor" he rasped, "Your friends have led me to you. You will come".

"Give us one good reason" the Corsair challenged, resting a hand on his blaster. In answer, Sarff separated his coils; the robe dropped away to reveal his true form, a large serpent with a colony of snakes around him. The humans in the stand screamed and fled…Flavia sort of wished she could do the same.

"Nobody dies here. Not one person, not one of my friends, do you understand?" the Doctor demanded.

"Davros, creator of the Daleks, dark lord of Skaro, is dying".

"So we heard".

"Why should we care?" Romana asked, rather bitterly. She loathed Davros, for what he'd cost them all…his Daleks had slaughtered her first family, and she dreaded the thought of them killing this one.

"He would speak with you again, Doctor, on the last night of his life. He wishes for you to have a chance…to give atonement".

"What, you're saying Davros is trying to show me mercy?" the Doctor scoffed, "In that case, you can do the same. You will harm nobody in this place. Not one person. Are we very, very clear?"

Sarff recoiled himself into humanoid form. "Are you five so dangerous?"

"I am" the Doctor replied boldly, "You want to know how much? Davros sent you. You know how stupid you are? Huh? You came!"

Sarff hissed.

"Is that supposed to frighten us?" the Doctor scoffed, "Snake nest in a dress? Now, explain, politely. Davros is my arch-enemy. Why would I want to talk to him?"

"No, wait, hang on a minute. Davros is your arch-enemy now?" Missy asked indignantly.

"Quiet, you" the Corsair interjected.

"I'll scratch his eye out" Missy huffed.

"Davros knows" Sarff replied ominously, "Davros remembers…" He tossed something to the ground at the Doctor's feet – his sonic screwdriver.

Clara frowned at it, confused. "That's yours" she pointed out.

"Err, it was".

"Was?"

"He lost it" explained Emily, picking the sonic up. "Before we came here, when he…" she trailed off, and frowned.

All eyes turned to the Doctor. "Dad…" Emily said slowly, "That person you couldn't save, was that...was that Davros?"

"It was Lord Davros as a child" Sarff informed them, "And your father…left him to die".

Clara scoffed at that. "Now I know that's a lie. The Doctor would never…you wouldn't let a child die" she said to the Doctor, expecting him to announce that of course he wouldn't, it was all a trick. He looked at them all, his friends and family – and Missy – staring at him in confusion, or worry…and all the excuses he'd thought of, all his reasoning flew out of the metaphorical window. He hung his head, ashamed.

"Ooh, I hardly ever see _that_ look on your face" Missy remarked, "This must be Christmas".

"Shut up" Romana snapped, before stepping in front of her husband and cupping his face in her hands. "Doctor…why didn't you tell us?" she asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"How could I?" he asked helplessly, "To have you all think less of me…Romana, I need you to do something for me".

"Anything" she promised.

"I need you all to run" he told her, giving her a brief kiss, before approaching Colony Sarff. "Is your ship in orbit?" he asked, and the serpent nodded.

"What? Dad, you can't go with that thing!"

"Do as you're told, Emily".

"No way!" she said defiantly, "This is obviously a trap!"

"For once I agree with the brat" Missy commented, "I know traps. Traps are my flirting. You'll die if you go with snake-nest here".

"That is a distinct possibility" the Doctor agreed, putting his hands behind his back, "So, goodbye, everyone". A snake slithered towards him from beneath Sarff's robe, climbing his leg and binding his wrists together.

"This is not goodbye" Romana said firmly, walking over to stand beside him, and putting her own hands behind her back. His eyes widened, and he glared at her. "No. No, no, no, no, no. You're not coming, none of you!"

"Yes, we are" Clara announced decisively; she and Emily stood on his other side, turning their backs on Sarff.

"Stop it, all of you! This is my crime. I have to face this alone!"

"Oh, stop acting like a martyr" Missy rolled her eyes, "It's like you've got a complex". She copied the others, and they all stared at her. "What? I don't want to miss this!"

"Neither do I – although probably for different reasons" the Corsair admitted. He looked at Flavia and inquired, "Are you coming?"

She hesitated. "Err…if I say yes, can I _not_ get tied up by a snake?"

"No-one is getting tied up by snakes, except me" the Doctor insisted loudly, looking over his shoulder at Sarff, who was writhing slightly. "What are you doing?"

"Voting" the serpent replied, "We _are_ a democracy. It is agreed". Snakes slithered out and bound their wrists…the Corsair was holding Flavia's hand, trying to be supportive, and one snake curled around their wrists.

"You think it's matchmaking?" he quipped.

"It's horrid, is what it is" she grimaced.

The Doctor was furious. "No, no, no! I forbid it, no! No! No! No! No!"

All eight of them vanished…Bors crept out of hiding, slack-jawed. What manner of demon had he just witnessed? He forgot a second later, stiffening, his face going blank. Wordlessly, he marched through the castle and into a room, pulling aside a curtain to reveal the TARDIS. Bors, now a Dalek puppet, announced, "Inform High Command. It is located. The TARDIS is located".

"The TARDIS will be procured!"

"Procure the TARDIS. Procure the TARDIS. Procure! Procure! Procure!"


	3. The Magician's Apprentice Pt 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

The Magician's Apprentice – Part Three

After the Doctor had stopped ranting about how dangerous the situation was and how they shouldn't have followed him (Romana threatened to not speak to or kiss him for a month), he explained Davros' origins to Clara. "Davros is the child of war, a war that wouldn't end. A thousand years of fighting, till nobody could remember why. So Davros, he created a new kind of warrior, one that wouldn't bother with that question. A mutant in a tank that would never, ever stop -and they never did".

"The Daleks?"

"How scared must you be to seal every one of your own kind inside a tank?" the Doctor questioned. He paused and wondered, "Davros made the Daleks, but who made Davros?"

The Corsair looked at Flavia and telepathically inquired, _Hey, are you alright?_

 _I'm fine…_

 _Oh, good. It's just that you're cutting off the blood flow to my fingers and they're going numb_

She blinked and looked down at their joined hands, realising that she'd been squeezing his hand rather tightly. She relaxed her grip somewhat and apologised. _I'm just a bit…on edge._

 _Yeah, me too…I mean, one Dalek, I can handle. More than one, things start to get tricky._

 _If you ask me, just one Dalek is too many. If I had my way, there'd be no Daleks, spiders or snakes anywhere in the universe._

 _I think one of them is worse than the others...look, don't worry about the snakes. They aren't here to hurt us. The Daleks will do that._

 _Oh, thank you, you always know just what to say_ Flavia replied sarcastically.

 _Okay, bad choice of words_ the Corsair admitted, before adding a bit sullenly, _I was just trying to help._ He withdrew from the connection and raised his mental barriers; he didn't notice the flicker of guilt in Flavia's expression.

There was a whooshing sound, and stars appeared again in the window. Missy opened her mouth to say something, but Romana beat her to it. "We're coming out of hyperspace – it's a dimension overlaying normal space, where spaceships can traverse phenomenal distances in a short amount of time" she explained for Clara's benefit. Missy shot her a glare, which went either unnoticed or ignored, and amused herself by humming 'Hey Mickey' just loud enough for it to be annoying.

Through the window, they could see a floating structure that vaguely resembled a chess pawn. "So that's where he ended up" the Doctor noted, with a sort of detached interest.

"What is that?" Clara wondered.

"I don't know, a hospital?" the Doctor suggested vaguely. The spaceship connected with this space-port, hospital, whatever it was, and Colony Sarff escorted them into an empty room. He also had the Corsair and Flavia's hands bound properly; but to the Corsair's relief, he didn't see past the perception filter on the Time Lord's blaster. Once Sarff had left, and they had nothing to do but wait, the eight captives made themselves as comfortable as they could and tried to pass the time. Missy tried to irritate the others; the Corsair tried to irritate Missy.

After what felt like hours, but what may have actually been five minutes, Clara impatiently asked "How long have we been waiting?"

Emily answered, "Well my time sense tells me that only fifteen minutes have passed; my boredom is telling me that it's been fifteen _days._ Ugh. At least real hospitals have the excuse of having lots of patients to tend to" she grumbled. Clara was reminded of Angie Maitland, her former charge, who also grumbled over being made to wait. Apparently human adolescents and Time Lord adolescents had certain similarities.

The monotony was broken by Sarff's return. He turned to the Doctor and instructed, "You will come. The rest will stay".

"Oh no, you don't" Romana warned, "My husband kept a secret from me and I'm not about to let him off that easily. If your master is summoning him, he can summon me as well" she declared in her best imperious-Time-Lady voice.

"And me" Emily volunteered, trying to sound imperious as well; it came out as more of a 'stubborn teenager' voice.

"Neither of you are"-

"No, Doctor. I am coming, and Emily is not. Don't argue, Emily" Romana insisted, when her daughter tried to protest, "I do not want you anywhere near Davros. Stay safe, and mind your godparents, understand?"

Emily scowled a bit, then sighed and agreed, "Yes, _mother_ ".

Colony Sarff led the Doctor and Romana out of the chamber, leaving the rest imprisoned. Missy, who had been sitting against the wall, pushed herself up and remarked, "Well, I thought they'd _never_ leave". She stretched her arms out, and dropped the snake that had been binding her wrists to the floor. It was dead. In an impulse of morbid curiosity, Flavia looked at it and realised that Missy had broken its neck. She looked away quickly. "Pop quiz for you all" the mad Time Lady declared, before adding in an American accent, "Winner gets the snake cuffs off!"

"Some of us can manage that ourselves, thanks" the Corsair retorted, tossing his own snake bind aside and pulling off Flavia's. She rubbed her wrists and smiled at him gratefully.

Missy noticed, and smirked at them both. "Aww, don't you make a lovely couple?" she mocked; both Flavia and the Corsair went slightly pink, and stepped away from each other. "Alright, smart Alec, you tell the class – what's wrong with the gravity here?" Missy asked the Corsair, doing a little tap dance.

"What's wrong is that nothing's wrong" he replied, as he got rid of Clara and Emily's binds. Clara's snake wasn't quite dead, and tried to slither away; Missy stamped on it mercilessly, and declared, "Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!"

"Nothing's wrong with the gravity? That's a bad thing?" Clara asked, half-sceptical, and half-confused.

Flavia explained, "What he means is that if this is a space-station, the gravity should be artificial, with a slight scent of copper…but it feels normal…as if we're on a planet".

"But there wasn't a planet when we arrived" Emily pointed out. Missy clapped laconically and remarked, "My, what an astute observation. Here's another one for you – do you know what this airlock is?" she asked, patting it, "I'll tell you. It's pants".

"What's that supposed to mean?" Emily scoffed, her pride bruised a bit by Missy's constant dismissals and insults. Seriously, what had Emily ever done to her?

"I mean that today might be the day".

" _What_ day?"

"The day I kill you all" Missy replied bluntly.

The Corsair stepped between her and Emily, and warned "I'd like to see you try".

"Killing me won't do anything, dearie, I was given new regenerations in the Time War".

"I'll be sure to keep count when I'm getting rid of them" the Corsair said darkly. If Missy felt threatened, she didn't show it. Instead she merely gave him a sloe-eyed glance over her shoulder and remarked, "Ooh, I'm getting chills. If I didn't know you had a thing for Flavia, I might try to snatch you up myself".

"Eww – and I do not have a 'thing' for Flavia" the Corsair insisted. It was absurd; they were nothing alike. _I mean sure, she's attractive, and it's sort of sexy when she gets mad…but that doesn't mean I'm in_ love _with her, or something!_

Clara was a bit suspicious of the Corsair's immediate dismissal of any interest in Flavia; in all her time travelling with the Quintet, she'd noticed that the two of them had a certain…dynamic going on. Right now though, she was more concerned with what Missy was up to. "What are you doing to the airlock? Are you opening it?" she asked in alarm.

"Yeah, course" Missy nodded, as she finished unlocking it.

Flavia's eyes widened in alarm, and she demanded "Are you mad? – wait, don't answer that. Regardless, we could all be killed!"

"Oh, don't you trust the Corsair, your one true love?"

"Stop it, there's nothing between me and the Corsair".

"Well then, it won't matter if I do…this!" Missy declared, opening the airlock. Alarms blared loudly…but nothing else happened.

/

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Romana had been escorted by Colony Sarff to Davros. "Doctor?" the wizened war criminal rasped; the Time Lord and his wife stepped into view. "Doctor, and Romana" Davros greeted, "Welcome".

"Davros" the Doctor nodded. Romana refused to show the man even that much courtesy. Davros didn't seem to care. "I approve of your new face, Doctor" he commented, "So much more like mine. Colony Sarff, untie our guest's hands" he ordered. Sarff removed their binds, and at Davros' orders, left the room. "You came, then" Davros said to the Doctor.

"Clearly"

"Did you suspect a trap?"

"I still do".

"Then why are you here - with your family, no less?"

"I didn't intend for them to come; they insisted".

"And one of them is standing right here" Romana pointed out, not too happy with being ignored.

"My apologies" Davros croaked with surprising civility, "I remember you…my congratulations to you, Doctor, on finding others of your own kind. You must understand, Romana, your husband and I have…a history. Did you miss our conversations, Doctor?" he asked, taking considerable effort to press some switches on the control panel in his chair.

Old security camera footage began playing on a small screen; previous incarnations of the Doctor talking to or about Davros. The fourth Doctor asking him, "If you had created a virus in your laboratory…"

The fifth insisting, "I'm not here as your prisoner, Davros…"

The seventh mocking, "Unimaginable power! Unlimited rice pudding!"

The tenth lamenting, "Everything we saw, everything we lost…"

The sixth demanding, "But did you bother to tell anyone they might be eating their own relatives?"

"Yes, yes, yes, okay, you've made your point" the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Have I?"

Another clip played, of the fourth asking his companions, "If someone who knew the future pointed out a child to you, and told you that that child would grow up totally evil, to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives, could you then kill that child?"

The Doctor switched off the recordings. "We get the point" he said firmly.

"Do you know why you came, Doctor? You have a sense of duty. Of guilt, perhaps; and certainly of shame".

"You flatter me".

"Pity, I intended to accuse. I believe that for the ultimate good of the universe, I was right to create the Daleks".

"There is nothing good about the Daleks" Romana glared at him. The Doctor agreed completely. " _You_ were _very_ wrong" he told Davros.

"This is the argument we've had since we met".

"It ended in the Time War".

"It survived the Time War…but it will end tonight. That is why you are here" Davros informed them. An alarm sounded from somewhere within the station, and Davros remarked, "It seems your friends have gone exploring".

/

Rather than getting sucked out into the vacuum of space, the remaining captives could stand and look out at the stars. "It's warm, isn't it?" Missy remarked conversationally, "For deep space, anyway".

"What are you doing?" Clara asked her when she leaned out of the airlock.

"Treading softly" Missy replied, before cautiously stepping out onto an invisible surface.

"Oh, cool" Emily grinned, stepping out as well, "An invisible floor".

"Ground, actually" Missy corrected, "This is the ground. We're on a planet. And that is not a space station" she declared, pointing at the building they had just escaped from, "That is a building. And the rest of the planet, the whole thing, is invisible".

Clara looked up, having been staring down at the stars below her, and said "That's ridiculous".

"Ridiculous, but true" the Corsair quipped.

"Oh, of course it's ridiculous" Missy agreed, "I mean, how would you ever find your glasses? Or the little girl's room? And what if you kissed an ugly?" she asked randomly, before realising, "Unless, when you're part of the atmosphere, you start syncing with the spectrum…"

"Why would someone hide a whole planet?"

"It probably depends on what planet it was" said Flavia. She was getting a really bad feeling about this…

Before their eyes, the ground, and sky, and buildings appeared. Horribly familiar buildings… "No" Missy exclaimed, staring at the buildings in dismay, and even fear.

"No, not here, anywhere but here" Flavia pleaded; Clara could hear the horror in their voices. "Flavia, what's wrong?" she asked, "What is this place?"

"They've built it again. They've brought it back" Missy despaired, "No, no, no!"

The Corsair cursed under his breath. "Emily, Clara, we are on the most dangerous planet in the universe – Skaro".

At the mere mention of the planet's name, Emily's eyes widened fearfully, but Clara still didn't understand. "What's Skaro?"

"Clara…it's the home planet of the Daleks" Emily told her.

Seconds later a grating, metallic voice cried, "Correct!"

They all spun around to see a Dalek levitating over a ridge, aiming its weapon at them. The Corsair eyed it warily and reached for his blaster; but then _another_ one appeared, and he knew that he couldn't shoot one without being exterminated on the spot by the other. Reluctantly, they all raised their hands in surrender and hoped they wouldn't be killed straightaway. "You are prisoners of the Daleks! You will move!" the first Dalek cried, herding them back towards the group of buildings.

The two Daleks 'escorted' them into a white room; white except for the blue box. "How did they get the TARDIS here?" Flavia asked in alarm. She felt a sudden sting of pain in her hand and saw a small red dot of blood, shooting a suspicious look at Missy who'd been standing near her.

"It has been procured" boomed the crimson Supreme Dalek, raised on a dais. Other Daleks surrounded them on all sides, keeping them trapped between the genocidal pepper-pots and the TARDIS. In a fit of bravado, Clara tauntingly declared "Yeah? Yeah, well, if you're trying to get inside, you can't. Nothing can enter the TARDIS" she said confidently, before adding, "Ow!" as something pricked the back of her neck.

"The TARDIS will not be entered. The TARDIS will be destroyed" the Supreme Dalek revealed. If Daleks had more emotions than fear and hate, it might have sounded smug.

"I was afraid you'd say – ouch!" the Corsair winced, rounding on Missy, who was trying very hard to look innocent. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked, rubbing his stinging arm.

"Moi?" she asked, "I'm helping". Without looking, she jabbed her controller at Emily, pricking the skin of her shoulder.

"Ow! What was that for?"

/

The Doctor and Clara could see and hear everything via a view-screen in Davros' chamber. "What _is_ she doing?" the Doctor wondered; Missy had pricked all four of them, including herself, and was now blithely ignoring the Supreme Dalek's orders to drop her weapon as she fiddled with it.

"Never mind that" Romana snapped, before rounding on Davros. "Get them away from my daughter, _or else_ " she threatened, fixing him with a cool glare that nonetheless had the fury of a tiger behind it. However, it had been countless years since Davros witnessed a mother's wrath, so whilst he didn't doubt that she would risk anything to save her offspring, he believed her efforts would be in vain. "I created the Daleks, Romana, I do not control them. You know how children are".

"Don't you _dare_ compare my little girl to those monstrosities" Romana spat scathingly – but before she could follow up on her threat, Missy began talking loudly, distracting her.

/

Back in the white room, Missy was looking inordinately pleased with herself. "Daleks!" she crowed, "Pay attention!"

The Corsair grabbed her arm and hissed, "How is this _helping_?"

"Hush" she said patronisingly, twisting out of his grip and skipping over to the TARDIS, patting the faux wooden surface. "You know what this is? This thing you're about to destroy? I'll tell you! It's the dog's unmentionables. And you know all about those, don't you?" she asked mock playfully, tickling a nearby Dalek's self-destruction spheres. The Daleks eyestalks followed her every move, but they made no move to attack, as if even they weren't sure what to make of her.

"This is a TARDIS" Missy declared, as if explaining something to a simple child, "With this, you can go anywhere, do anything, kill anyone. With this, the Daleks can be more powerful than ever before". She strode over and up onto a ledge opposite the TARDIS; the Daleks all turned to face her. "You just need one more thing" she told them.

"Don't you dare!" the Corsair glared angrily. Missy ignored him pointedly, and told the Daleks, "Me. You need me. A Time Lady, to show you how it works. With this and with me, everything can be yours. And you can burn it all, for ever and ever and ever". She waited quite a few moments, before asking, "Or would you rather just kill me?"

The Daleks spun towards the Supreme Dalek, expecting an order – and getting it. "Maximum extermination" the Supreme Dalek declared mercilessly – it was a Dalek, obviously.

"Exterminate!"

The Daleks fired; Missy's skeleton was lit up briefly before she was apparently vaporised. In the next instant, the Corsair had his blaster out and aimed at the Supreme Dalek. "One wrong move and your leader gets it!" he shouted, thanking every god he could think of that he'd thought to keep his favoured weapon charged up during their 'vacation'.

/

The Doctor and Romana were horrified; the latter stormed over to Davros' chair and forced his withered hand aside, putting her finger on the switch that controlled his life-support systems. She hadn't seen Davros face to face since her second incarnation, but she'd put together accounts from the Time War and her husband's explanations, and her own memories, and worked out which switch it was. "Call the Daleks off, or _I'll_ exterminate _you_ ".

Her voice was filled with so much venom that even the Doctor was disturbed, but he was on her side one hundred percent. "She means it, Davros. We are _begging_ you. Save them!"

Davros struggled to remove his hand from Romana's grasp; then he raised his other hand and flicked a different switch, briefly electrifying the outside of his chair. Romana pulled away with a cry of pain, and glared furiously at Davros. "Call the Daleks off, now! I will _not_ lose another family to the likes of you!"

"Why aren't they attacking?" the Doctor demanded, staring at the view-screen. The Daleks had made no move to exterminate the Corsair, still locked in stalemate with the Supreme Dalek; or Flavia, Emily and Clara, huddled together with wide and frightened eyes…

"They want him to shoot" Davros rasped, "They want the others to run. They _need_ them to run. Do you feel their need, Doctor? Their blood is screaming kill, kill, kill! Hunter and prey, held in the ecstasy of crisis. Is this not life at its purest?"

"You are _sick_ " Romana spat, storming over to the sealed door, and attempting to break the deadlock with her sonic screwdriver. The Doctor joined her, the two of them trying desperately to escape, run to their daughter and save her…but their efforts were fruitless.

/

The Corsair wasn't afraid of dying. It was a good thing, he reflected, since he was about to find out what it was like. He did have some last words, however, and there was only one person here he trusted to tell… _Flavia?_

 _What?!_

 _I'm doomed. I'll try to buy you some time to run for it – get out of the city, find somewhere to hide._

 _We can't hide from-_

 _Just do it! For me…I just wanted to tell you, I'm sorry for all the times I got on your nerves…and to tell you that I…I always thought you were-_

"Clara, no!" cried Emily, startling the Corsair; he looked round just in time to see Clara panic, and make a break for the doors; the cry on his lips went unheard as both he and Clara were exterminated, reduced to atoms. Flavia and Emily clung to one another, tears in their eyes, shaking with terror.

"Please, you can't, please, have mercy!" Flavia begged futilely. The Daleks aimed their weapons; the younger and older Time Ladies clenched their eyes shut. _I'm so sorry Romana, Doctor!_

 _Goodbye mum, goodbye dad, I love you!_

/

The Doctor and Romana couldn't hear their telepathic cries, trapped helplessly inside a psychic proof room. All they could do was watch and listen, horrified, as the terrible cry of "Exterminate!" thundered through the air –

"NO!" Romana screamed, tears pouring down her face, as Emily was exterminated. She and the Doctor sank to their knees, clinging to one another, openly sobbing with grief… _Emily! My little girl, my baby, she's gone, they_ killed _her…_

 _I'm sorry. Oh God, Romana, I'm sorry, this is all my fault, it's all my fault!_ The Doctor glared at Davros, who sat watching them impassively, and snarled, "Why did I _ever_ let you live?"

"Compassion, Doctor" Davros replied, "It has always been your greatest indulgence. Let this be my final victory. Let me hear you say it, just once. Compassion is wrong".

"Destroy the TARDIS!" they heard the Supreme Dalek order; a chorus of "Destroy!" rose up, and the screen flashed blinding white…

/

"Help me!" Davros cried, the little boy desperately searching the mist for the stranger, "You can't leave me! You promised. You said I had a chance".

A sound behind him made him turn around, momentarily forgetting the hand-mines surrounding him; but they were facing the source of the noise as well. The strange man was back. "Who are you?" asked Davros, "I don't get it, how did you get over there?"

"From the future" the man replied.

"Are you going to save me?"

The man's eyes hardened. "I'm going to save my family" he declared, "the only way I can". He lifted some sort of laser weapon and aimed at the terrified child. "Exterminate!"


	4. The Witch's Familiars Pt 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas yesterday XD

The Witch's Familiars – Part One

Clara awoke slowly…she tried to move, only to find that her hands and feet were bound with rope. Emily, Flavia and the Corsair were all tied up in the same way, struggling to loosen their bonds. Missy was the only one of them unbound; she sat on a nearby rock, sharpening a stick and resting her foot on the Corsair's blaster. The Time Lady glanced up, spotted Clara and gave a smile that reminded her of a crocodile. "Oh, good, you're all awake! Now, let me tell you a story"-

"Clara!" she was interrupted by Emily, who leaned out past Flavia to look at her honorary aunt and ask, "Are you alright?"

"I think so…where are we? Why aren't we?"-

"Hush!" Missy barked suddenly, startling them. "Unless you want to stay tied up, I suggest you shut your mouth and listen" she warned Emily, who glared fiercely at her. She wasn't the only one.

"Don't talk to my goddaughter that way" the Corsair scowled angrily, struggling to loosen his bonds. Missy gave a little moue of disappointment and lamented, "Well that's a _fine_ way to treat the one who saved your lives…"

" _You_ saved our lives?" Clara couldn't help but blurt in surprise, "How?!"

Missy rolled her eyes in exasperation, and pointed the stick at Clara, saying "I was _getting_ to that, if you'd all just let me finish, thank you".

They all glowered at her…except for Flavia, who reluctantly admitted, "If she did save us, then it's really the least we can do to hear her out…"

"Thank you, Flavia…Now where was I?" she asked rhetorically, tapping the tip of her makeshift spear and wincing, "Ow".

"Err, why are you sharpening that stick?" asked Clara, guessing it couldn't be for anything good.

Missy shrugged and explained "Well, I've no idea how long we're going to be stuck out here. Might have to go hunting, and I'm sure the Corsair would prefer if I didn't waste his shots".

"…So, why are we tied up?"

"In case there's nothing to hunt" Missy grinned darkly at them.

The Corsair rolled his eyes and said impatiently, "You were saying?"

"Don't rush me. Now, consider the Doctor. Alone, trapped, no friends, no TARDIS … in his element, basically. Doesn't matter which face he was wearing, they're all the Doctor to me. So let's give it to the eyebrows".

"Um, won't the Daleks" – Clara began.

"Hush, mummy's talking" Missy jabbed the sharp stick warningly at her, before continuing, "He's travelling by teleporter. Unfortunately, his teleporter is out of power. Also unfortunate, he's being stalked by, oh, say about fifty android assassins? I may be rounding up. Fifty invisible, indestructible android assassins, all exclusively programmed to kill him. Surrounded, outnumbered. Outgunned…and freeze. Nanoseconds to live. Four, I'd say, being generous. Now, pop quiz. How did he survive?"

"Easy, it never happened and you're making it up" the Corsair answered immediately.

"But if I weren't, how did he survive?"

"He stole the teleport you mentioned from an android, didn't he?" Emily surmised, playing along.

"Ooh, clever girl! Which means?"

"Which means the teleporter probably used the same energy as the androids weapons, right?" Clara guessed.

"Excellent? Not seeing you as sandwiches so much anymore".

"Okay, then" Clara grimaced a bit, "He uses the energy wave from the android weapons to recharge the teleport bracelet and at the exact moment he's supposed to disintegrate, he teleports…hang on, but that doesn't explain how you got us out. We weren't all wearing teleports".

"No, but it _does_ explain how she survived last time" Flavia sighed, "I did think it was suspicious that the disintegration beam of that Cyberman looked _identical_ to your teleport".

"We all did" the Corsair nodded, before asking Missy, "Mind telling us how you did get us out? Preferably getting straight to the point, this time" he added.

Missy frowned at him, but before she could make a retort, Emily spoke up and explained "She took blood samples from all of us to key our genetic structures into her controller, which was already keyed into the Vortex Manipulator she's wearing, and after she'd teleported out, she recreated all of us, every atom, from her controller's hard drive. So, we actually _did_ get exterminated, but she created back-up files of us so to speak, which is why none of us have regenerated or officially died".

Emily's brusque yet detailed explanation was met with surprised stares…then Missy applauded her. "Oh, well done! Not seeing you as sandwiches, either. Hang on a tick" she said, pulling out her controller and aiming it at them all. They all cried out in protest, but when Missy pressed a button, all that disintegrated were the ropes around their wrists and ankles.

Flavia got to her feet and approached Missy, who stood up to face her. "You know when they say a man should never hit a lady?" Flavia inquired lightly.

"…Yes?"

Flavia slapped Missy, hard. "That was for Romana" she said coolly, before slapping Missy again, "And that one was for me". With that, she went to check on Emily, and comfort the girl who was surely worried for her parents.

Clara sidled over to the Corsair and muttered, "Yikes".

"Yeah...I've never seen her like that before" he murmured back… _Kind of hot though_ he thought briefly, before striding up to Missy and demanding, "Blaster, give me, now".

She held the weapon behind her back and insisted "Say something nice".

He resisted (barely) rolling his eyes. "I'm not going to shoot you" he told her, inwardly thinking _Just yet._ "You won't be able to use it anyway, it's isomorphic".

Missy raised an eyebrow, and fired a shot out into the desert…or tried to, anyway. The Corsair snatched it out of her hand and holstered it. The five of them stood looking down at the Dalek city, and Missy asked, "Why does the Doctor always survive?"

"Cos he's clever?" the Corsair suggested with a shrug.

"Yes, but there's lots of clever dead people. I love killing clever clogs, they make the best faces".

"Because he always assumes he's going to win. He always knows there's a way to survive. He just has to go and find it" said Clara.

Emily added "And my mum's with him…they can do anything together" she said firmly.

"Well, we've all got our work cut out for us" Missy remarked, "Your parents are trapped at the heart of the Dalek empire. They are prisoners of the creatures who hate your father most in the universe. Between us and them is everything the deadliest race in all of history can throw at us. We, on the other hand, have a pointy stick and a blaster. How do we start?"

"We assume we're going to win" Clara answered confidently.

Missy seemed rather disappointed. "Oh…pity, really. I was actually quite peckish" she sighed, heading off through the desert. The others followed, partly out of wanting to keep an eye on the mad Time Lady, and partly because they had nowhere else to go.

"Can the rest of us have sticks?" asked Clara.

"Make your own pointy stick".

/

Romana was numb…the initial shock of seeing her beloved daughter exterminated had worn off, leaving a hollow inside her that she doubted would ever be healed. She stood in front of the screen, staring at the spot where Emily had been standing, grieving silently and ignoring Davros. The callous, mad scientist showed no concern for the distraught parent's plight; he barely acknowledged Romana's presence. "It took me so very long to realise it was you" he told the Doctor, "standing at the gates of my beginning. And here you are at the end".

The Doctor ignored him as well, searching the room, all the junk and spare parts for…aha!

"But this time, I have you at my mercy. Exterminate" Davros mocked, as the Doctor held a Dalek gunstick to the back of his head. "Ancient, inoperable".

True enough, the gun failed to fire, and the Doctor almost threw it away in frustration. At the last second he hesitated, looked over at his wife and cautiously asked, "Romana, can I borrow your sonic to fix this thing?"

"You would threaten a dying man?" asked Davros, "Have I not suffered enough?"

Suddenly, Romana was in front of him, glaring into his bionic eye with loathing. "Your _pets_ murdered _my daughter._ No amount of suffering would be enough" she hissed with vitriol. The Doctor stood beside her in solidarity. "Get out" he ordered suddenly.

"I cannot leave this chamber" Davros protested, "It sustains me".

"Get out!"

/

Alarms began ringing in the Supreme Dalek's control room; one Dalek exclaimed "Alert! Alert! The infirmary is breached!"

"Protect Davros" the Supreme Dalek ordered immediately, "Davros must be assisted".

The wall screen showed a schematic of the building, and a red dot moving down the corridor towards them. "Davros is leaving the infirmary" one Dalek cried.

"Davros must remain. Davros cannot leave" the Supreme Dalek insisted.

"My children!" Davros rasped over the intercom, "Help me!"

"You must return to the infirmary".

"The Doctor and his wife are escaping. Find them. Find the Doctor and Romana!"

"Find the Doctor and Romana!" the Supreme Dalek commanded, "Seek, locate, destroy!"

/

"Seek, locate, destroy!"

"Seek, locate!"

"Exterminate the Doctor and Romana!"

"Exterminate! Exterminate!"

All of this and more could be heard by the remainder of the Time Quintet, Clara and Missy. "What's happening?" asked Clara, as they hunkered down behind some boulders.

"They're trying to escape and really piss the Daleks off at the same time, obviously" the Corsair replied, "Not that doing the latter is difficult".

Clara looked alarmed. "They're in the middle of all that" she said worriedly.

"All the better for us, it'll make a nice distraction" he pointed out, as they moved on.

/

"Assist me!" Davros cried pitifully; the Daleks erroneously thought he was nearing the control room.

"Davros approaches" one Dalek reported, as the red dot that tracked their creators travel unit moved towards the door.

"Admit Davros. Admit the creator" the Supreme Dalek instructed.

"Help me!"

"Assist Davros, assist!"

A Dalek who had followed a different route into the infirmary to investigate found Davros, or what was left of him, lying on the floor… and back in the control room, the door opened to reveal the Doctor, sitting in Davros travel unit, with Romana holding onto the back. "Admit it" he taunted, "You've all had this exact nightmare…so, anyone for dodgems?"

"Exterminate!" the Dalek Supreme cried out, and all the Daleks fired simultaneously…

/

The remainder of the Time Quintet, Clara and Missy were gathered around a large hole in the ground. They wrinkled their noses a bit at the unpleasant odour emanating from within. "Daleks have sewers?" Clara asked in surprise. What would they need sewers for?

"It's not really a sewer" the Corsair replied with a grimace.

"What is it, then?"

"Alive" Missy answered ominously, before inquiring more lightly, "How much of a drop would you say that is? Can you see the bottom?"

Clara leaned over the edge of the pit. "Too dark" she shook her head, "Err, we could chuck a stone down, or something" she suggested.

"Oh yeah, good idea".

Suddenly Clara felt herself being yanked backwards. The Corsair let go of the back of her shirt and advised, "Don't lean out over dark pits next to mad people, Clara".

She blinked in bewilderment, looking between him and Missy. "Hang on, were…were you going to push me in?!" she demanded, indignant and alarmed.

Missy rolled her eyes at the theatrics and answered, "Oh don't whine so much, I'm sure you would have _survived._ Now how are we supposed to find out how deep this is?"

They heard the tell-tale _thunk_ of a rock hitting rock. "It's twenty feet" Emily informed them, having moved to the other side of the hole and dropped a large stone down it.

"Why do we need to know how deep it is, anyway?" asked Flavia. The rest of them just looked at her, and she groaned "Oh, no…"

/

The Doctor sipped from a white tea cup with gold trim, perfectly calm despite being surrounded by insane, homicidal pepper-pots. Romana was more feigning calmness, but she was very glad that Davros' personal force-field had encompassed her as well. "Of course, the real question is, where did I get the cup of tea?" her husband asked rhetorically, "Answer? I'm the Doctor. Just accept it".

"You are unharmed" the Supreme Dalek noted. _Is it just me, or are they always stating the obvious?_ The Doctor asked Romana; without waiting for an answer he stated, "Proposition. Davros is an insane, paranoid genius who has survived among several billion trigger-happy mini-tanks for centuries. Conclusion? I'm definitely having his chair".

"You and your mate cannot escape, Doctor".

The Doctor held up the Dalek gun, now fully operational thanks to Romana's sonic screwdriver. He didn't have his own with him; when they'd tried to escape before, he'd resorted to beating on the door with his fists. As if mere physical strength could break down an impenetrable barrier – but he'd been desperate. He still was. "I'm guessing his personal force-field only works in one direction".

"The Doctor does not use weapons".

"Doesn't he? Ah, listen to your little heart's beat!"

/

The Corsair caught Clara as she jumped down from the edge of the pit, followed by Emily. They were in a tunnel carved through the rock, the walls coated in a tar like greenish black gunge. Flavia grimaced in disgust. "It doesn't matter what planet they're on" she muttered darkly, "I _hate_ sewers".

"The Corsair said it wasn't a sewer, though" Clara recalled, "So what is it?"

"I don't think you want to know" he replied, taking out his blaster and aiming it at Missy, who had her back to him…she smirked when she turned and saw the weapon aimed at her. "Oh, please. If you were going to kill me, you would have fired by now" she pointed out, "Face it Corsair, you've gone soft".

He tensed, finger tightening on the trigger. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't shoot you" he challenged, glaring at her.

Missy regarded him with a thoughtful expression, and replied, "Certainly". With whip fast reflexes, she reached out and dragged Flavia in front of her, pressing the length of her pointy stick against the other Time Lady's throat. Flavia struggled to push the wood away and choked out, "Get off!"

"No can do, poppet" Missy answered, grinning triumphantly at the Corsair over Flavia's shoulder. "Is this a good enough reason for you?"

The Corsair's eyes hardened; he switched to aiming at Missy's face instead of her chest. "Let her go, _now,_ or you'll regret it!"

"Say something nice!" Missy sing-songed, "Or I'll choke your girlfriend".

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"Corsair, just put the blaster down!" Clara said desperately. The Corsair slowly lowered the weapon, but Missy didn't let up trapping Flavia…until Flavia herself stamped hard on Missy's foot. With a cry of pain the mad Time Lady released the pressure; Flavia forced the stick away from her and ducked underneath it.

The Corsair reached out and pulled her to safety. "Are you alright?" he asked in concern, seeing a red mark on her throat where the rough wood had pressed into it. Flavia nodded, breathless.

"Stepping on my toes" Missy commented, "Really, I don't know why you didn't think of that before".

They all glared at her. "You almost killed my godmother" Emily frowned.

"Your godfather almost killed me" Missy riposted, before adding to the Corsair, "Which I didn't really appreciate, by the way. Team work is all about respect".

"We are _not_ a team".

"Of course we are" she said confidently, "I'm an asset, whether you like it or not…and if you haven't noticed, I'm rather hard to kill. Now, let's get on with things, shall we? This place is a mess".

"Can one of you please explain what this place is, if it isn't a sewer?" Clara demanded.

"Well, it is a sewer of sorts, dear" Missy nodded, "Although Daleks don't generate much in the way of waste".

"So what's all this gunge, then?"

"Decaying Daleks" Missy answered, and Clara grimaced, stepping away from the wall. "Daleks can't die. Genetically hard-wired to keep on living, whatever happens. Well" Missy gestured around her, "But they still age, poor loves. Over time, the body breaks down, rots, liquefies. Interestingly, the Dalek word for sewer is the same as their word for graveyard" she commented, stabbing the wall with her pointed stick. The organic matter coating the wall _screamed._

/

"Ask us what we want" the Doctor challenged the Supreme Dalek. Romana didn't know where he was going with this; he hadn't told her what the plan was, just that he had one. Perhaps she should have asked, but she trusted him to the ends of the universe.

"Irrelevant" the Supreme Dalek intoned, "You will not prevail. You will not succeed".

"We've been at the heart of your empire for forty two minutes, and we own it, and _I_ haven't even got out of my chair. Ask us what we want".

There was a pause, and then the Supreme Dalek inquired, "What do you want?"

The Doctor's gaze and voice hardened even more, if that were possible. "Our daughter" he answered bluntly. Romana stared at him in bewilderment; Emily was dead, and it broke their hearts, but had it driven her husband off the edge?

He pressed a switch on Davros' control panel and broadcasted across the city; down in the sewer-catacombs, their family (and Missy) stopped and listened. "I want Emily, Clara, the Corsair and Flavia returned to us, safe and alive, immediately. You bring them back. You do that. You do that now. Unharmed, unhurt, alive" he ordered, continuing to threaten the Supreme Dalek with the unattached blaster.

"Your associates"-

"I saw what happened!" the Doctor shouted suddenly, "I was there. And I'm hoping, for all of our sakes, that it was a trick".

"It was not a deception".

"Because if my daughter really is dead, then you'd better be very, _very_ careful how you tell me" he warned. Deep down, he knew that Emily was gone, but he refused to accept it…because, deeper still, he had the feeling that she had somehow survived… "Who's going to tell me?" he challenged, "Who's going to go first? All the power Davros had is mine. Everything he had, I have. Who's going to tell me, that my family and my best friend are really dead?"

"They are not alive" the Supreme Dalek replied at last.

"Doctor, this urge for conquest" Davros remarked, appearing on a screen, "It is gratifying to see you learn".

"Davros, you're up. Sorry, this seat's taken".

"Indeed – but not by you" Davros replied. Snakes slithered out from inside the chair, swarming over the Doctor and Romana and entrapping them. "You've met my Head of Personal Security, I think. Colony Sarff; his agents are everywhere".

"Doctor!" Romana cried out as her husband was engulfed in the legless fiends; then she screamed as one snake electrified the chair, rendering her unconscious.

In his room, supported by cables, Davros asked his Head of Security, "Are you ready?"

"Of course" Sarff replied with a hiss.

"Be subtle, Colony Sarff. Tonight, we entrap a Time Lord" Davros murmured, as Sarff uncoiled.


	5. The Witch's Familiars Pt 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

The Witch's Familiar – Part Two

When the Doctor's dangerous pronouncement was cut off with a hiss of static, his daughter and friends down in the catacombs worried, but they could not do much down there. At last they came across what was, to all intents and purposes, a door. "What is that, a lift?" Clara asked in surprise.

"Well, with the Daleks it's hardly going to be a staircase, is it?" the Corsair quipped, pulling out his red tipped sonic screwdriver. He started towards the door, but Missy blocked his way. "Now what?" he demanded.

"Were you planning to just waltz right in, gun blazing? First things first" she said, pointing between them to a metal ring jutting out of the wall, with a blue disc in the centre.

The Corsair glanced at it and grudgingly conceded, "Fair point, better switch off the cameras". He raised his sonic to do just that; and Missy leapt at him without warning, snatching his sonic away and snapping a handcuff around his wrist and the metal ring. She flashed the sonic at the security camera; rather than switch off, it glowed brighter, and a Dalek could be heard shouting "Intruder alert! Intruder alert!"

"What the hell are you _doing?_ " the Corsair hissed vehemently, his free hand shooting out and prising the nicked sonic from Missy's unresisting fingers. He set it to the handcuff, but it wouldn't give.

"Getting us in, of course" she answered as if it were obvious, before uselessly advising, "And don't bother with the handcuffs; they're triple-deadlocked, and unless you want to blast your own hand off…"

"Disturbance detected in lower level!"

"You'd be surprised" he shot back; to be truthful, he didn't much fancy shooting himself out of the handcuff, even if he could replace the missing appendage.

"Save it for the Dalek; oops, here he comes now!"

"Dalek to Lower Level Thirteen"

Flavia pulled out her own sonic and tried to help unlock the handcuffs; Emily joined in as well, leaving Clara to ask Missy, "Why are you doing this?"

"I told you, we can't just go waltzing in. We need a disguise! We need to kill a Dalek, which is where he comes in" she explained, sort of, gesturing to the Corsair.

"What? If your plan was to have me act as bait, you could've just asked!"

"Well, I _was_ going to use the puppy or the kid or your girlfriend again, but you were nearest so I worked with what I had" Missy shrugged, unclipping a brooch from her blouse. "Dark star alloy; goes through armour plating like a knife through people. If you miss, this is my back-up".

"I _don't_ miss" the Corsair asserted, his eyes and voice hard. Missy ignored the implied threat and admired her brooch with something close to fondness. "It's pretty, isn't it? Got it in the olden days on Gallifrey, the Doctor gave it to me when my daughter"-

She was cut off by the sound of the lift arriving, and pressed herself against the wall beside it, putting a finger to her lips. The Corsair quickly waved the others away. "Get back, hide!" he hissed at them; they ran back to the nearest intersection, and he turned back to the lift, resting his free hand casually on his hip. The door slid open and a Dalek emerged, trundling towards the Corsair with its weapon poised. "Humanoid detected. Humanoid unauthorised in restricted area. Remain still. Do not move" it ordered, "Scan in progress".

It scanned the Corsair. "You possess a binary vascular system. You are a Time Lord!"

"Nothing gets past you, does it? By the way, your scan missed something" the Corsair said casually, making sure he didn't glance at Missy, sneaking up behind the Dalek.

"Explain! Explain!"

"This" he answered, pulling out his blaster and shooting the Dalek right in the eyestalk. It recoiled from the force of the blast, forcing Missy to jump aside, and powered down. "Are you sure that did it?" she asked, experimentally slapping the Dalek's dome – the light in its eyestalk glowed dimly and it croaked out "Ex…ter...min"-

The Corsair didn't give it time to finish, and shot it again, point blank. "I'm sure _that_ did it" he replied to Missy, before tugging on the handcuff and demanding, "Now do you mind?"

She rolled her eyes and cut through the cuff around his wrist with her brooch. He winced as a sliver of red appeared on the back of his wrist and glared at her. "What is it with you and drawing blood? You're _welcome_ , by the way".

"Oops" she said uncontritely, "Now help me get this thing opened up". Flavia, Clara and Emily cautiously approached as the Corsair lifted up the dome of the Dalek. Missy reached in and scooped out the creature inside, flinging it aside with a look of disgust – one shared by the others. Although, Emily felt a tiny bit of pity for the mutant, since it apparently couldn't properly die…no organism should have to suffer like that, rotting alive, not even evil ones.

"What did we need a dead Dalek for anyway?" asked Clara.

Missy, once she was satisfied that she'd got all of the mutant gunk out of the shell, grinned maliciously at Clara. "Nice of you to volunteer", she nodded at the travel machine, "Get in".

/

The Doctor regained consciousness, opening bleary eyes and seeing Davros reintegrated with his chair. Davros noticed him waking and remarked, "I hope you are grateful. It wasn't easy to procure, and very nearly unique, of course. You should feel privileged. I regret we could not give the same to your wife - the only other chair on Skaro".

Waking up fully, the Doctor looked down to find himself sitting in an ordinary metal frame chair, Romana on the floor beside him with her head in his lap. She too stirred awake, and looked relieved to see the Doctor. They got to their feet, ignoring Davros for the moment, and shared a hug. _Well, that didn't go to plan_ the Doctor admitted ruefully, _I'm sorry, Romana._

 _I know…I miss her too._

The Doctor gave her one last squeeze and began walking around the room, eyes peeled. Davros anticipated what he was looking for and informed them, "The weapon you repaired has been dismantled, if that is what you seek". He pointed gnarled fingers at the table covered in spare parts, including the remains of a Dalek blaster. "I can easily un-dismantle it" the Doctor threatened, "And when I'm finished, guess who I'm going to use it on first?"

"Not me. I am already dying, Doctor".

"You keep saying that, you keep not dying. Can you give it some welly? Come on" the Doctor said mock-encouragingly.

"It is time for us to conclude our business together".

"We have no business" the Doctor told him, beckoning for Romana to come over and help him fix the gun. As she passed the cables surrounding Davros, she didn't notice one thick cable close a pair of eyes with a soft hiss.

"We have nothing but" Davros retorted, before pointing at the cables, "Look again at the cables, Doctor, Romana. Understand what they are. What they can do. Just step a little closer" he prompted.

Both the Doctor and Romana pointedly kept their distance…but the Doctor was curious now. _Go and investigate_ Romana told him, recognising his expression, _Just be careful, and don't get too close to him._

He nodded and cautiously approached Davros' life support unit. "They don't have much respect for you, do they?" he asked rhetorically as he examined it, "Your kids. Have you seen the state of this place? I mean, this is exactly where you dump a smelly old uncle slash family pet slash genius scientist who couldn't even invent legs. Seriously, how do your boys take it when everybody else has got two eyes?"

"You know what it is, of course" Davros remarked, ignoring the Doctor's jibes.

"Oh, yes. It's a hyperspace relay, with some kind of a genetic component".

"I am connected to the life force of every Dalek on this planet" Davros revealed, "It is what has kept me alive. As their hearts beat, so does mine".

"Ooh, nice" the Doctor said, just a bit sarcastically (it was the Daleks he was leeching off, after all), "Vampiring off your own creations, just to eke out your days. I'm surprised the Daleks allow it".

"Oh, they have no choice. My Daleks are afflicted with a genetic defect".

"What defect?"

"Respect. Mercy for their father" Davros replied without a hint of irony, "Design flaws I was unable to eliminate. And now he sees it" he rasped as the Doctor eyed the cables, coming to a realisation, "Now he understands. The cables, Doctor. Touch them. Imagine, to hold in your hand the heartbeat of every Dalek on Skaro. They send me life. Is it beyond the wit of a Time Lord to send them death? And with two of you, a little work and it could be done".

"Err, why would you be telling us this?"

"Genocide in a moment. Such slaughter, not in self-defence. Not as a simple act of war. Genocide as a choice. Are you ready, Doctor? So many backs with a single knife" Davros said temptingly. Disturbed, the Doctor started to draw away, but Davros took his hand and guided it back towards the cables. "Are you ready to be a god?"

"We're not gods" Romana interrupted, "And I refuse to let you turn our daughter's death into part of whatever scheme this is" she insisted, as the Doctor returned to her side. Partly out of solidarity, and partly because he was terrified of what she'd do to him if he didn't; she was scary, angry.

"There is no scheme" Davros lied, before inquiring, "If you hate me so, why did you come here, Doctor? Due to your conscience…or your shame?"

"I don't know if I am the Doctor right now" he commented; he was tempted to destroy all of the Daleks, even if it meant playing into Davros' trap, just to avenge Emily, Clara, Flavia and the Corsair…but he held himself back, because he didn't want the last person he had left to see him resort to genocide. "And I didn't come here because I'm ashamed" he continued, "A bit of shame never hurt anyone. I came because you're sick and you asked…and because sometimes, on a good day, if I try very hard, I'm not some old Time Lord who ran away. I'm the Doctor".

"Compassion, then"

"Always"

"It grows strong and fierce in you, like a cancer".

"I hope so".

"It will kill you in the end".

"I wouldn't die of anything else".

"You may rely on it".

/

"Sorry, what?!" demanded Clara and the others, all of whom stared at Missy in alarm and bewilderment. She rolled her eyes at them and impersonated the Terminator. "Get in the Dalek if you want to live".

Clara raised an eyebrow, and said "Oh no, no, you've got another thing coming if you think I'm gonna fall for that. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice"-

"Are you claustrophobic?" the Corsair asked out of the blue. Clara blinked in surprise and replied, "Err, no…?"

He grimaced slightly, and remarked "I hate to say it, but Missy's right. You do have to go into the Dalek travel unit if you want to live".

"How come?" asked Emily, frowning. The words 'Dalek' and 'live' rarely went in the same sentence, and she could tell Clara was thinking along the same lines.

The Corsair explained, "You're human – no, just, just hear me out" he said hastily, when Clara looked indignant, "Daleks aren't mindless killers – well, they're killers, but they're not mindless. The rest of us would be prisoners of significance – or more likely, bargaining chips. There's more of a chance of them keeping _us_ alive than of keeping you alive; but if you were hidden, disguised as one of them"-

"Then they'd overlook me, cos they'd assume I was on their side" Clara finished for him, but then she frowned, "But I don't know how to act like a Dalek – and I've seen them shoot their own kind before".

"Well, I never said it was a _perfect_ plan" Missy interjected, pressing a control within the Dalek shell. It opened out to reveal a space just large enough for a human Clara's size to fit in. It would be a bit of a squeeze though, and Clara wasn't exactly thrilled with this plan. "In you hop" Missy said cheerfully, ignoring Clara's nervous expression.

"I can take care of one of those problems" the Corsair told Clara, "If you trust me".

"Of course" she agreed without question. He smiled and told her to hold still, before placing his fingers on her temples. "Oh, that's weird" she said when he dropped his hands, "It's like you left something in my head…"

"Rudimentary psychic link" he explained, "It's like the telepathic equivalent of two cans and a string. I can guide you through this, tell you what to say and do. So, are you ready?"

Clara eyed the travel unit apprehensively; but the Doctor and Romana were up there, surrounded by Daleks and in danger, and she'd never forgive herself if she didn't help them. Besides, what was life without a little risk? She took a deep breath and nodded; Emily and Flavia both hugged her, whilst Missy just gagged over all the mushy sentimentality. Clara sat down in the travel unit – it was just as uncomfortable as she'd expected, but she'd manage – and the Corsair knelt in front of her, picking up two electrode wires.

"How am I supposed to make it go? Are there pedals?"

"Daleks don't have feet, Clara" the Corsair reminded her, pressing the electrodes to her temples, "Now, I'd tell you this wasn't going to hurt, but I'd be lying". Before she could figure out what she meant, he pushed the wires into her head.

"OW!"

"Sorry! It's alright, calm down".

" _Ow_ ".

"Don't worry, Clara" Missy commented, looking like she was enjoying this far too much, "There's loads of nano-tech repairing any damage as the feed goes in".

"What about when it comes out?"

"No idea" Missy replied unconcernedly, "Nobody knows. Anyway, to control the unit, you just have to think. Novel idea for you, but let's try it. Move forwards" she instructed.

"It helps if you mouth the words or say them aloud at first" Emily advised, recalling that from her lessons on telepathy. She'd come a long way – her dad said he'd not seen someone with barriers as strong as hers since – well, since himself.

"Err, okay…move forwards" Clara repeated, taking care to think the words at the same time. She gasped in surprise as the unit lurched forward about half a foot. "How do I keep it moving?"

"You keep thinking 'moving forwards' – wait, wait, stop!" the Corsair interrupted, as Clara did just that, forcing them all to back up. She thought ' _stop'_ and much to her relief, the unit stopped. "You need to keep your thoughts under control. Just clear your mind, go to a happy place, and only focus on what you need to do and say. Understand?" he asked seriously.

"Yes" Clara nodded. She tried moving the unit a bit more, sliding backwards, then circling left, then circling right…once she was confident, the Corsair pressed a control and sealed the unit, removing Clara from view.

"Are you okay in there?" Flavia asked in concern. She couldn't help but be glad _she_ wasn't the one stuck inside a horrible, cramped, dark Dalek travel unit…it made her shudder just thinking about it.

"Fine, I think" Clara answered; the voice modulator made it come out in the voice of a Dalek, and the Corsair and Flavia were reminded strongly of Oswin. Now another version of Clara was trapped inside a Dalek…at least this one had her right mind. "Okay, that's a bit weird" Clara remarked at the sound of her own altered voice. Emily stifled a giggle – it wasn't the time for laughs, but hearing a Dalek saying such normal things was just funny.

"Just a bit" Missy agreed, "Okay, shh. Say your name".

"Why?"

"Just say it!"

"Clara" she said – but the casing said, "Dalek".

"Say it again" Missy grinned vindictively.

"Clara Oswald" Clara said louder, but once again the casing said "Dalek, Dalek".

"Stop it" the Corsair glared at Missy, "and Clara, you need to calm down. Emotions fire the gun".

"What do you mean?"

"What do you think I mean? Now clear your mind, like I told you" he instructed firmly.

There was a pause, and then Clara – Dalek asked, "Why can't I say my name?"

"It's a failsafe built into later models of Daleks, if a travel unit is stolen and used by the enemy, the casing itself translates phrases that aren't in the Daleks vocabulary – anything to do with identity, love, etc. – into 'Dalek speak'. As for emotions firing the gun – Cybermen suppress emotions, Daleks channel heightened emotions – which in their case is hatred and fear – through their weaponry. That's why they keep yelling 'Exterminate', it's how they reload – oh, and one more tip, don't say 'exterminate'".

"Why not?"

"Take a guess".

"Because it will fire the gun?" guessed Clara.

"Ooh, say, 'I love you'" Missy suddenly suggested. At the others irritated glares, she protested "What? I just want to know what it comes out as. Go on, Clara, I dare you".

"Ignore her, Clara" said Flavia, "You don't have to say anything you don't want to".

"It can't hurt…Exterminate…no, that's not right…Exterminate. Exterminate! How do I stop saying ex"-

 _Stop!_ the Corsair cried in her head, arresting her thoughts, _Clara, I just told you emotions charge the gun and saying the 'e' word fires it. Pay attention._

 _I'm sorry…it just freaked me out._

 _Same here…are you good?_

 _Yeah…yeah, I'm good._

"Good" the Corsair breathed, withdrawing from Clara's mind and wiping his brow, "That was a close one. Okay, here's the plan – we don't get in front of Clara. She's not used to keeping her emotions under control – no offence" he added to Clara-Dalek. "Let's not risk her accidentally shooting one of us…except for you, you step in front of her as much as you like" he told Missy.

She just smirked at him, and remarked "Those boys up there are probably wondering what's taking this one so long…so let's go and kill the neighbours, shall we?"

/

Meanwhile, in Davros' room, the Doctor and Romana were working on repairing the Dalek gunstick and trying to come up with an escape plan…it would be a lot easier without Davros' presence there to distract them. Romana refused to even look at the insane scientist, deliberately sitting in a place she couldn't see him. The Doctor had insisted on her having the only other chair; she'd appreciated the sweet gesture, but only agreed on the condition that he sat down instead when he grew tired. Neither of them were getting any younger, after all.

"There is a question, Doctor" Davros remarked croakily, "One I have longed to ask".

"Yeah, well, if you're going to put your hand on my knee, it isn't going to go well".

"Why did you leave Gallifrey?"

The Doctor paused, and then replied, "Well, because I did".

"You stole a TARDIS, and ran, and ran…why?"

"It's a boring place, Gallifrey. I was going out of my mind".

"Yet you long to return".

"Ah, well, I'm inconsistent".

"But it is always the same lie" Davros mused.

"What lie?"

"You weren't bored. No one runs the way you have run for so small a reason".

"I do".

"No, you don't. Colony Sarff confiscated these items on your arrival" said Davros, wheeling himself over to the table. Romana heard him coming and shifted out of the way quickly – she still didn't want to be anywhere near him. Davros gestured to a simple cardboard box filled with confiscated items, mostly from the Doctor – including the golden, Gallifreyan engraved disc. "A Time Lord confession dial, I believe" he remarked, "Your confession. Tell me. Send me to my grave with this precious knowledge. What _is_ the Doctor's confession?" he asked, reaching for the Dial.

"Don't you dare!" the Doctor glared at him.

"Is it possible I have touched a nerve?"

"The Dial wouldn't do anything for you, anyway" Romana interrupted, "It won't open unless the Doctor was dying, and I assure you I have no intention of letting that happen anytime soon" she said firmly.

The Doctor placed a supportive arm around her shoulders and told his nemesis, "Some things matter to me, Davros. One of them is right here, the other four are dead. You don't touch the rest" he insisted. Then he leaned over and picked up the shades he'd been wearing at the medieval party. "And these better not be scratched. They're my best ones".

"Still, you play the fool" Davros noted with contempt. The Doctor donned his sunglasses and replied, "Well, by now that should make you nervous".


	6. The Witch's Familiars Pt 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: I've been suffering from writer's block for a while, and I was working on the chapter for my other series, Alterations…but to make up for the long wait, I'm uploading a double post today.

The Witch's Familiars – Part Three

Clara was trying very, very hard to stay calm, as she manoeuvred the Dalek casing through the corridors. She was grateful that the Corsair was somehow telepathically boosting her, helping to keep her emotions at bay. She was terrified, but he'd pushed that fear to the back of her mind and let her concentrate. _Forward, forward, forward, forward…_

"Halt!" a Dalek approached them, and they all stopped, the Time Lords raising their hands in surrender. "Report" it ordered, staring at Clara-Dalek through its eyestalk.

The Corsair fed the words into her mind and Clara answered, "Humanoid intruders found on lower levels". It felt so weird and wrong for her voice to sound like a Dalek, but she tried to ignore it.

"Why have the intruders not been exterminated? Explain. Explain. Explain!"

"We're prisoners of special significance" Missy smirked at it from her place beside Clara-Dalek, "Count the hearts".

The Dalek stared at her. "You are Time Lords?"

"I'm a Time Lady, thank you. Some of us can afford the upgrade. Is it still the same old Supreme Dalek these days?" she asked in a bored tone, "I fought him once on the slopes of the Never Vault. Tell him the bitch and her band are back".

The Dalek processed this, and then ordered them to follow it to the Supreme Daleks chamber. "We're not your band" the Corsair hissed at Missy. She ignored him. He ignored her in return, focusing on helping Clara keep her wayward emotions in check.

/

The Doctor and Romana had fixed the unattached Dalek gunstick…but Romana was having second thoughts. They needed to escape, and few weapons could penetrate Dalek armour better than their own, but on the other hand… _I don't know if I can use this_ she told the Doctor through their link, _I mean, part of me wants revenge, but part of me wants to…honour Emily's memory, I suppose._

 _You think she'd want us to sit around like ducks and get exterminated?_

 _No, I think she wouldn't want us to become like the Daleks. Why do you think I was so against the idea of genocide?_

 _Romana, it's the_ Daleks _we're talking about. I try to destroy them and they crawl back, like cockroaches. I try to show mercy and they threaten to take away everything I love. We have nothing left to lose anymore, except each other_ he replied darkly, getting to his feet and walking over to the screens. They were switched off, and he stared at his reflection without really seeing it.

"Make your confession, Doctor" Davros muttered, once more ignoring Romana. She wasn't sure if she felt offended or not. "Why did you really leave Gallifrey?" he inquired, his rasping voice threaded with hints of genuine curiosity.

"Why don't you mind your own business?" Romana muttered, not bothering to lower her voice, since Davros wasn't paying her any attention…until he looked at her and replied, "One should know one's enemies, Lady Romana".

"How long has it been, you and I?" the Doctor inquired out of nowhere, distracting Davros from Romana, just as he'd planned.

"Long enough" Davros answered simply, "Galaxies have burned".

"And now you ask me a personal question?" he asked sceptically. There had to be more to this than idle curiosity…or had he simply become cynical?

"You have slaughtered billions of my children, as I have slaughtered billions of your race. We have exhausted the conventional means of communication" Davros pointed out.

The Doctor took off his sunglasses and looked at Romana, asking her a simple question without telepathy. After a pause, she nodded slightly, a nod which he returned. "Our people are alive" he informed Davros solemnly, "They didn't die, we brought them back. We found a way".

"Is this true?" Davros inquired, shocked.

"Gallifrey is back in the sky. We don't know where, we may never know. But Gallifrey is back and it is safe… from both of us" the Doctor explained. Davros' reaction was one that neither he nor Romana could have predicted.

"Doctor, Romana…my most sincere congratulations" he croaked out. The two Time Lords stared at him, in suspicion and bewilderment.

"What did you say?" Romana asked in surprise. It was last thing she'd expected…and she hadn't known what to expect.

"This is wonderful news. Beyond all hope. I congratulate you".

"Why are you saying this?" the Doctor inquired, frowning in bewilderment. _Since when does Davros congratulate people?_ He asked Romana, who could only mentally shrug in response.

"One should have a race, a people, an allegiance. One should belong, Doctor. Believe me, please. I am happy for you both. So happy" he told them, his wizened mouth twisting into what could be considered, just about, as a smile.

Romana's eyes hardened slightly, and she replied in a cool tone, "You'll forgive us if we find that rather hard to believe, considering that you let your creations murder our daughter and friends…and Missy".

"I could not have stopped them" he replied, "I cannot control the Daleks. I have not controlled them for centuries. In a way, I am every bit as much a prisoner here as you are, Lady Romana".

"Don't call me that" she snapped, glaring at him. In the next instant, the fire had gone from her eyes and she slumped down in the single available chair, putting her head in her hands. Her loss, especially Emily, it was a dark, sharp tear in her hearts, a wound that tore slowly deeper with every passing second. Romana felt ice freezing inside her soul, numbing the pain with hatred of Davros and his creations...and it frightened her.

The Doctor rested his hands on her shoulders, trying to be supportive. He wanted to tell her that everything would be okay, but…he didn't have it in him to lie to her. It would be far easier to comfort his wife, he mused, if not for Davros speaking to him. "Come closer, Doctor. Let me see your face" he requested, gesturing the Time Lord closer.

"You've seen it often enough" he pointed out, not moving away from Romana.

"Let me see it with my own eyes" Davros rasped…and the blue light of his bionic eye blinked out, as he leaned forward in his chair. The Doctor squeezed Romana's shoulder, and slowly stepped up to Davros, peering at his face. "Closer, please" Davros murmured, prising open ancient, rheumy eyes. Their gazes met, and the Doctor thought he saw a glimmer of something strange…guilt? Regret? – deep within the dark recesses of his arch-enemies' half-blind eyes.

"If you have redeemed the Time Lords from the fire, do not lose them again. Take the darkest path into the deepest hell, but protect your own as I have sought to protect mine… Did I do right, Doctor? Tell me" Davros murmured, resting his wizened hand atop the Doctor's, "Was I right? I need to know before the end. Am I a good man?"

"No" Romana interrupted, standing up and coming over, "You're not…you're a genius, Davros. You could have been so much more, something so much better…instead you wasted all that potential, for 'ultimate power'" she told him, shaking her head in regret, "And because of you, my daughter's potential was cut short as well. All because you wanted to see my husband one last time before you died…I wish we'd never come here" she finished, walking away and staring at the screens, hugging herself.

"Are you really dying?" asked the Doctor. He'd been suspicious from the beginning, considering how many times Davros had supposedly 'died'…but this time seemed almost genuine.

"Look at me" he rasped in reply, gesturing at his frail, shrivelled from, "Did you doubt it?"

"Yes".

"Then we have established one thing only".

"What?"

"You are not a good doctor" Davros joked; they both chuckled briefly, though Davros wheezed a bit at the end. "A pity" he sighed, when he'd got his breath back, "I had hoped to see the sun one last time with the eyes of my true self".

/

Missy skipped into the Dalek Supremes' control room, acting as if she didn't have a care in the world. "Oh, hello! Look at you all, with your nice, shiny domes. Oh, I am loving this" she rambled, walking right up to the Supreme Dalek and murmuring, "You're my secret favourite. Don't tell the others". She sat down on the edge of its dais, looking around at the assembled Daleks.

The Corsair was eyeing them warily, leaving one hand close to his blaster, and his other arm around Emily's shoulders. Emily, for her part, was doing her best to appear less frightened than she really was. Missy might have saved them the first time, but she wasn't sure she trusted the Time Lady to do the same trick twice. Missy obviously had a bigger plan up her sleeve; Emily didn't know what made her more nervous, the unknown plan or the Daleks.

"You are an enemy of the Daleks" the Supreme Dalek announced. Flavia wondered briefly if it recognised them, or if it had no way of differentiating between its victims. The Daleks did have an awful lot of them, after all. Why had they let themselves come back here, trapped once more? Surely they could have found a way to break into the chamber where the Doctor and Romana were being held…it was heavily psychically shielded, the whole complex, and she couldn't sense the other two members of their party, as if _they_ were the ones who had perished. It was most disconcerting.

"Yes, well, anyone who's not a Dalek is an enemy of the Daleks, so that was an easy guess" Missy pointed out in a bored tone.

"You will be exterminated".

"Please, please do, because I have been on my feet all day" Missy complained, hopping to her feet again, "But before you get all exterminate-y, two things. One, I want to see Davros. Two, I have a lovely little gift for you all, if you take me to him right now".

"We do not negotiate" the Supreme Dalek replied. Missy smirked, and gestured to her fellow prisoners. "Emily Smith, and friends; I've brought you complete control of the Doctor and Romana, and better yet, one of them is canned".

Clara was speechless, her mouth hanging open. The Corsair tugged Emily closer, glaring at Missy for throwing them all to the wolves like that; they were not bargaining chips, except in her twisted mind, of course.

 _Wait – she might have a point_ Emily reasoned, _It might be our only chance to get to my parents._

There was a pause, and then the Supreme Dalek stated, "The human is unaccounted for. Where is the human?"

/

"It is beautiful, my world, is it not?" Davros remarked, almost conversationally, as he sat in his chair looking out of a window. The landscape outside was a scoured desert; ravaged by war…the Doctor was beginning to see where the Daleks might have gotten their twisted concept of beauty from. He decided not to reply to Davros' question, and instead inquired, "How did you get it back?"

"The Daleks remade it. Like you, they have a strong concept of home" Davros explained. Romana watched suspiciously, as the Doctor unwound a length of cable from the mass of them in the centre of the room. Some of those cables looked awfully peculiar…

"No, like you" the Doctor corrected, drawing her attention as he walked over to Davros, "Everything you are, they are" he said. He was connecting Davros back to the life support system, she realised. _Theta, what are you doing?_

"Like both of us, perhaps" Davros commented, "How far we have come to go home again".

 _Trust me, Ro, I have a plan_ the Doctor replied, infusing their mental link with reassurance, before saying to Davros, "I'm trying to pep this up, but you've been going a long time. Every Dalek on Skaro isn't enough anymore".

 _What plan?_

 _A plan! Well, it's more of a thing…but it's almost fool-proof._

 _Almost?!_

"It is so good of you to help me" Davros interrupted their mental conversation.

 _You're not really helping him, are you?_

"I'm not helping you" the Doctor answered both his wife and Davros in one fell swoop, "I'm helping a little boy I abandoned on a battlefield. I think I owe him a sunrise". He looked out of the window, where Skaro's sun…the Dalek's had created a new sun? He was almost impressed – was just peeking out above a distant mountain range. "Come on, chin up" he encouraged.

Davros moaned slightly, as if in pain, and shifted in his seat as if trying to sit up straighter. "Any minute now" the Doctor prompted him, as the sun crept ever higher into the sky.

 _Doctor, what is your plan?_ Romana asked once again, standing up from her chair and folding her arms across her chest, raising one eyebrow suspiciously. The Doctor looked over at her, right in her eyes, and asked, _You trust me, don't you?_

 _Well, yes, but that doesn't mean-_

 _Then trust that I know what I'm doing, Romana_ he insisted quickly, still hiding the nature of his plan from her. Naturally, this just made her doubts grow even more. _Asking me to trust you blindly only tells me that this plan of yours isn't one I would approve of. I swear to Rassilon, Theta, if you do anything stupidly sacrificial and noble, I will leave you stranded on Clom for a_ year _._

Before the Doctor could reply to her threat, Davros muttered, "I have always admired you, Doctor…and you, Lady Romana, you have…exceeded my expectations. I wish, just once, we had been on the same side" he murmured, almost sounding regretful. Romana twitched slightly; she didn't want the mad-man's compliments, and she didn't care if he felt regret. It was too little, too late as far as she was concerned.

"Look, the sun's coming up" the Doctor told him, looking out of the window…and not at Romana, much to her displeasure. "We're on the same side now".

"I regret…I cannot open my eyes" Davros croaked out, his voice trembling. The Doctor looked down at him, and was surprised to find tears leaking from his arch-nemesis' eyes…he took a deep breath and steeled himself. Romana really wouldn't be happy with this… _Pick out somewhere high and dry, then_ he told his wife, before saying aloud, "Okay, don't ever tell anyone that I did this". He summoned regeneration energy up from his cells and into his hand; Romana's eyes widened at the golden glow dancing around his hand.

"What? No, no, no, you can't – Doctor, you can't!" she protested, starting forward and stumbling on the trailing cables. The Doctor quickly darted over to the life support mechanism in the centre of the room, and grasped a cable with both hands. "I'm not giving much, just enough to – aargh!" he yelled out, in pain and alarm, as snakes slithered from the cables and bound his hands in place.

"No!"

Romana hurried to help him, but found herself beset by the legless devils, twisting up her legs and almost tripping her; and a large serpent, Sarff himself, coiled around her, pinning her legs and one arm in place. With the other she beat and scratched helplessly at the thick scales, and reached out to her husband, who was struggling in his own tightening binds and almost on his knees with pain. "No! Stop it! Davros, let him go, now!"

"Hold them firm, Colony Sarff. The Doctor is precious to us now…and when he is finished with, you may kill the other".

"Don't you dare!" the Doctor thundered, anger coursing through his veins at the threat to yet another person he loved. He fought the snakes holding him with all his strength, but it was rapidly waning and each painful tug only seemed to make them curl tighter around his wrists and fingers. "Let her go, now!"

"Such compassion!" crowed Davros, turning to face them with a twisted, triumphant grin upon his face. "I warned you that it would be your downfall, Doctor. Regeneration energy; the ancient magic of the Time Lords" he said, his voice strengthening as the Doctor's regeneration energy flowed through the cables to him, much to Romana and the Doctor's horror, "I thought I would have to tear you apart to take it from you, but you have opened your veins of your own free will, and all Daleks shall drink the blood of Gallifrey. They shall rise stronger than ever!"

Bound and helpless, the two Time Lords screamed in pain and protest; Davros ignored them, cackling as he straightened and filled out in his chair, his body rapidly gaining in strength…


	7. The Witch's Familiar Pt 4

Disclaimer: If I owned Doctor Who I wouldn't be writing fanfiction

The Witch's Familiars – Part Four

"Where is the human?!" the Supreme Dalek demanded again, "You will tell us! You will tell us! You will tell us!" he ranted. The other Daleks began to join in with the incessant chanting, when suddenly every one of them fell silent, weapons and lowering to point at the floor. The Corsair, Emily, Flavia and Missy stared at the Daleks in bewilderment…Missy stopped dancing to the rhythm of the chanting and asked, perplexed, "I'm sorry. Was I, err, was I boring you?"

The Daleks did not move…and then, much to the Time Lord's horror, began to glow with an unmistakable orange golden hue… "No, they can't, _no_!" the Corsair cried out; he ran for the door that he surmised led to Davros, calling over his shoulder, "Stay here!"

"Not likely!" Missy retorted, pausing to wrench a gunstick from a nearby unresisting Dalek and following him out of the room.

"What is happening?" Clara-Dalek demanded, the dome swerving left and right as the human inside tried to see what was going on.

Flavia looked around at the glowing Dalek's, her terror increasing every moment. "They're…they're absorbing regeneration energy…Emily, where are you going?" she demanded, her voice rising a few octaves, when she spotted the youngest Time Lady striding towards the second door. Emily spun around and insisted, "I have to help my parents; they needme".

With that, she left in pursuit of the Corsair and Missy. Flavia flung her hands out in a frustrated gesture; the Corsair could handle it, and now Emily had put herself at risk…and she didn't expect Missy to bail them all out a second time… "Oh for the love of Rassilon's underpants!" she growled under her breath.

"Flavia!" shouted Clara-Dalek, "What do we do?"

"I – I don't know!" Flavia snapped back, her nerves frayed enough by the sewers and the Daleks and now this…with a shudder, she realised the glow was lessening, and she swore that one Daleks' gunstick twitched… "Err, stay calm" she said at last, trying to breath evenly, "We need to catch up with the others" she decided, picking her way past the Daleks and out the door. Clara thought about following her, and gasped as the travel machine began to trundle after Flavia. Taking a deep breath, the terrified human tried to keep her emotions under control.

/

"There was a prophecy, Doctor, on your own world" said Davros, all but revelling in the pain and horror in the faces of his oldest enemy and the Doctor's wife. Soon they'd join their child; they should be overjoyed at his compassion!

The Doctor screamed in pain, struggling with all his rapidly dissolving strength. "Please you must, you must stop this. You must stop this!" he begged, desperate. Romana couldn't even scream; the serpent wrapped around her was curling tighter, crushing her ribs, making her gasp…they were dying…

"It spoke of a hybrid creature" Davros continued, unheeding of their plight, "Two great warrior races forced together to create a warrior greater than either. Is that what you ran from, Doctor? Your part in the coming of the hybrid? Half Dalek, half Time Lord?" he asked rhetorically. Romana glared at him, tears of pain in her eyes, and gasped out, "S-stop this!"

Without warning, the door was flung open, and the psychic shielding crumbled like paper in a flame, as two very angry, very armed and very much alive Time Lords (or one Time Lord and one Time Lady), strode into the room. "You get the other one!" Missy told the Corsair, hefting the Dalek gunstick she'd stolen and firing at the cables and snakes trapping the Doctor. The door slid closed behind them, much to the annoyance of Emily, who pulled out her sonic screwdriver and began trying to undo the locking mechanism again.

When the Corsair moved into view, Romana still couldn't quite believe her eyes; she saw Sarff hiss menacingly, his jaws open wide…the Corsair fired an alpha meson blast right down the serpent's throat, without a flinch. Another blast in the neck that tore away flesh, and the serpent writhed and uncoiled and fell to the floor, dead. Romana scrambled out from the coils, grabbing onto the Corsair when he rushed forwards to help her. " _Y-you're alive_?!"

"We all are" he reassured her; a movement behind her caught his eye, and he raised his blaster again…Davros was approaching them, but Romana swiftly leapt forward, snatched another Dalek gunstick off the table and aimed it at Davros' head. "Don't you dare" she warned fiercely, keeping Davros at bay. The Corsair whistled through his teeth, impressed...then out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Doctor collapse, free of the cables.

"Help him" he told Romana, taking the gunstick from her and aiming both it and his blaster at Davros. "Hello, Davros, can't say it's a pleasure to meet you. I haven't seen you since the battle against the Nightmare Child" he told the insane genius conversationally. Romana hurried over to the Doctor, all but pushing Missy out of the way (ignoring the other Time Lady's huff of mock outrage), and cradled his head in her hands. _Wake up, Theta. Please, love, you need to wake up…_

Out in the corridor, Flavia and Clara-Dalek had caught up with Emily. "I can't get in!" she exclaimed, frustrated, "The Corsair's blaster fire warped the mechanism on this side, I've tried using my sonic but the signal keeps bouncing back, Flavia, what if they're trapped in there?!" she demanded a little hysterically.

"Emily! First of all, we need to remain calm. Remain calm and"- Flavia was cut off by the sounds of the Supreme Dalek intoning, "We are renewed. We are more powerful. The experiment has succeeded. All praise Davros!"

"All praise Davros!"

"All praise Davros!"

"All praise Davros!"

Flavia gulped as the chanting continued. "Stay calm and…hope for a miracle" she said at last, feeling helpless.

In Davros' room, Romana was still struggling to wake her husband. "Oh, just slap him, already" Missy said impatiently. Romana resisted the urge to glare at her; slapping him wouldn't work, he wasn't just unconscious, he was weakened, trying but unable to slip into a healing coma…there was only one thing for it, she realised. Her own regeneration energy bubbled to her lips…she pressed them against her husband's, letting the energy flow into him. Not much, just enough to boost his reserves…she pulled back when she felt him awaken, and smiled down at him. "Hello, dear".

"Where's our daughter?" he asked immediately; Missy and the Corsair were there, which meant that Emily, Flavia and Clara were alive as well.

"Outside with Flavia and Clara" replied the Corsair, reaching down to help the Doctor to his feet. "I think I might have broken the lock, and not in a good way. I should really get out of the habit of shooting doors open".

"Are all of you alright?" the Doctor demanded.

"Yeah – well, we're alive, which is always a plus".

"What happened? How did you escape?" asked Romana.

Missy cleared her throat pointedly and remarked, "Ah, that would be thanks to _moi_ , you're welcome. Also, I'm fine, thank you for asking".

"Oh, you are not fine" Davros chuckled, and they turned to face him suspiciously, "Thanks to you, Doctor, my creations shall grow to yet greater supremacy, and my own life is prolonged. This is the final defeat of the Time Lords. Have you nothing to say, Doctor?"

 _You know that plan I mentioned?_ The Doctor asked Romana. Aloud he simply said, "Three". He walked over to the table, stepping over the remains of Sarff, and put his personal effects (starting with his Confession Dial) in his pockets.

"Do you understand what has happened?" Davros demanded, "Hear my children sing".

"Two…"

"Oh, I know that face" said Missy, and she began to grin in anticipation…her expression soured slightly when he walked back over to Romana and wrapped an arm around her, but still, she couldn't wait to see what he had up his sleeves.

"All praise Davros, creator and saviour of the Daleks!"

"One" the Doctor finished…just before the room, indeed the whole city, shook with a force from below.

"What is that?" Davros demanded, "What is happening?"

"That is my plan, being enacted" the Doctor replied, "I knew exactly what you were doing, and I let you do it. You transmitted regeneration energy into every Dalek on this planet. Every. Single. One".

"What have you done?!"

"One word; err, no, two words, actually. First word, moron" the Doctor stated bluntly. The other three smirked and sniggered. "Second word, sewers".

" _Oh!_ " the Corsair exclaimed, "Or rather, the Dalek dumping grounds. Oh, you _are_ in trouble" he told Davros with a grin.

"No. This cannot be correct. How can this be?" Davros demanded angrily, fearfully.

"Generations of Daleks just woke up very cross, and they are coming up the pipes. Or to put it another way, bye!" the Doctor said cheerfully, grabbing Romana's hand and pulling her towards the door. The Corsair covered them in case Davros tried anything…Missy simply walked right up to the Kaled and remarked, "Can I just say, it's been an absolute pleasure to finally meet you?" She mock-curtseyed and held out a hand, as if to shake his hand, before poking him in his optic lens and skipping over to the door.

The lock was less damaged on this side, and the Doctor's sonic made short work of opening it. "Mum, dad!" cried Emily, rushing up to them the moment the door opened wide enough.

" _Emily!_ "

They wrapped their arms around her, holding her tight; their relief was almost palpable. The Corsair squeezed past them and hugged Flavia; then almost immediately let her go, clearing his throat and looking awkward. "Oh, my precious girl" Romana sighed, kissing Emily's forehead, "Are you alright, are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, mum. I can handle myself" Emily insisted. Romana simply pulled her into another hug; the Doctor reached out to steady them both when the building shook again, and viscous goo began to ooze out of a wall grille. As happy as Clara was that the Doctor and Romana were alive, she was thinking they better get out of there…

"Guys, we have to go!" she called from inside the Dalek casing; it came out as "We must move!"

Her heart nearly stopped when the Doctor stared at her – no, at her prison – in alarm and wrenched a Dalek gunstick from the Corsair's hand, aiming it right at her. "This city is about to be sucked into the ground. Your own sewer is about to consume you. There's no way you can win, there is nothing you can do, so just get out of our way" he threatened.

"No, no, it's me! It's Clara!" she cried, but to her frustration, the casing 'translated' her words to "Negative! Negative! I am a Dalek!"

The Doctor glared even more fiercely, misinterpreting the words as a threat. "And I am the Doctor! You are my enemy and I have lost"-

"Negative! Negative! Doctor! I am a Dalek! Mercy!" the Dalek shouted. Inside, a teary eyed Clara was yelling "No, no! Doctor, it's me, Clara! Don't shoot, please!"

He frowned in bewilderment, lowering the weapon a bit. Emily pushed her father's arm down and said urgently, "Dad, that's Clara!"

"What?"

"Missy made her hide inside a Dalek travel unit" the Corsair explained. Missy frowned at them, and protested, "I didn't hear any of you complaining too much! Besides, I was saving her life".

"You were going to use her as leverage!" Flavia snapped accusingly. She turned to Clara-Dalek and said, "Clara, you need to open the casing".

"Explain!"

"It's telepathic, remember. Just think 'open'" the Corsair reminded her. There was a pause, and then the casing began to split open. The moment he got a glimpse inside, the Doctor dropped the gunstick in horror, and made to help Clara out of the casing. "Oh, Clara, I'm sorry. Here, let me…" he pulled the wires from her head, and she winced, but managed to smile at him. "It's okay. I know you'd never hurt me" she told him…and he wanted to yell at her, scoff at her faith in him, because…it was dangerous.

Romana rounded on Missy, furious, and demanded "How could you do that to her?!"

"You think the Daleks would have let a mere human prisoner live?" Missy shot back, before looking over at the Doctor, who was glaring at her as well, "Whatever my reasons, it saved her life!"

"Missy, run".

"Besides, in a way, this is why I gave her to you in the first place" she went on, "To make you see. The friend inside the enemy, the enemy inside the friend. Everyone's a bit of both. Everyone's a hybrid".

"I said, _run_ " he repeated more coldly. They all stood aside to let her pass. Missy glared at them, particularly the Doctor, and said scathingly, "It wasn't me who ran, Doctor. That was always you". With that, she pushed past them all (and the abandoned Dalek casing) and headed off down a side corridor.

"Now what do we do?" Clara asked quickly. Another tremor hit, and they staggered…Flavia nearly toppled into the gunge dripping down the walls, but the Corsair pulled her back. "Eugh! Oh, thank you…I think escaping would be a good start" she suggested.

"Excellent idea, come on!" said the Doctor, heading off down the corridor. The others followed, although the Corsair paused to pick up the dropped gunstick. he led them back to the control room where, just as he'd hoped – err, knew, rather – the Daleks were a bit busy fending off their own ancestors to pay attention to the Time Quintet and their companion. "Emergency! Dalek control is compromised!" the Supreme Dalek screamed, spinning about on its dais. A piece of the ceiling fell in with a loud crash, but they didn't even flinch.

"Where was the TARDIS?" the Doctor asked urgently, "It was over there somewhere, wasn't it?"

The Corsair, who was pointing the gunstick (a more effective weapon against them than his blaster) at any Dalek who looked like it might try to shoot them, said "It was opposite Red over there, I think", nodding at the Supreme Dalek.

"What is happening? Explain! Explain!"

"Dalek Supreme, your sewers are revolting" the Doctor informed it with a straight face.

"Father, your puns are terrible" Emily told him, with a not so straight face.

"Shh, young lady; all of you come over here!" the Doctor insisted. The six of them hurried over to the indicated spot, gathering close.

"You will assist, or you will be exterminated!" the Supreme Dalek threatened them.

"Oh, well, go on, then. Exterminate away" the Doctor said unconcernedly, much to Clara's alarm.

"Doctor!" she exclaimed, flinching as the deadly lasers fired at them…only to be repelled by an invisible barrier.

"Oh, right, the TARDIS force field" the Corsair face palmed, "I forgot it was still active, we could have just stood here".

"But…but the TARDIS was destroyed" Clara said uncertainly.

"Dad wouldn't let them blow up his ship _that_ easily, Clara" Emily said with a grin.

The Doctor nodded and explained, "It just redistributed itself for a moment. Hostile Action Dispersal System. I'll give it a quick blast from my sonic, and the real time envelope will reassemble right here".

"Wait, but Davros still had your screwdriver" Romana frowned, puzzled. What was he up to now?

He winked at her and said, "Oh, yeah, I'm over screwdrivers. They spoil the line of your jacket. These days, I'm all about wearable technology". He put on his sunglasses, and she raised an eyebrow. "You didn't…you did!"

"Seriously?!" Clara nearly laughed. Sonic sunglasses?!

The Doctor adjusted his shades, and the air around them began to shimmer as the TARDIS coalesced. "What is happening?" the Supreme Dalek demanded an explanation.

"Oh, same old, same old" the Doctor said casually, putting an arm around Romana's shoulders, "The Time Quintet and Clara, in the TARDIS". The time machine reformed fully, and dematerialised immediately.

/

They landed on a high ridge above the city, watching it disintegrate. "It's hard to believe all this started because you didn't save Davros as a child" Emily commented to her father.

He frowned, not at her, but in thought… "Clara?"

"Yes, Doctor?"

"When you were trapped inside the Dalek casing, you made it say 'mercy'. How did you do that?"

"I…I was trying to tell you not to shoot me".

"Then why didn't it say 'Do not shoot'? Why would the casing use that particular word? I mean, how on Skaro does a word like 'mercy' even enter the Dalek's vocabulary?" he rambled, pacing back and forth in front of them.

"No offence, mate, but you're really slow sometimes" the Corsair remarked, holding up the Dalek gunstick. The Doctor glared at him for a moment, offended, before the light finally dawned. "Everyone into the TARDIS" he ordered, ushering them all inside. He piloted them back in time, and a little bit through space, put the TARDIS on silent and invisible mode, and told them all, "Wait here".

Before they could protest, he stepped out of the TARDIS, gunstick in hand. The boy, the younger Davros, and the hand-mines turned to face him. "Who are you? I don't get it. How did you get there?" he asked fearfully.

"From the future" the Doctor replied.

"Are you going to save me?"

"I'm going to save my family, the only way I can. Exterminate!"

Davros flinched, but the Doctor didn't fire the weapon at _him._ He fired at the hand-mines, blasting them all to oblivion. Then he walked forward and held his hand out. "I'm going to need that back…please" he said, nodding to the sonic screwdriver in the boy's hand. He was willing to show the child Davros mercy, but he didn't want his own sonic to be what helped the adult Davros create the Daleks. He'd interfered too much with their development as it was.

The boy handed it back hesitantly. The Doctor pocketed it, and said "Come on, I'll take you home".

"Which side are you on?" Davros asked suspiciously, "Are you the enemy?"

"I'm not sure that any of that matters, friends, enemies. So long as there's mercy" he reasoned, "Always mercy. Now, I hope you're ready for a shock" he warned, raising a hand to snap his fingers…

/

Later, after they'd deposited a mind wiped and unconscious Davros back at the Kaled community, the Corsair went to store the Dalek gunstick in the TARDIS armoury (his own personal collection). Flavia, Emily and Clara went to their rooms to freshen up, leaving the Doctor and Romana alone in the console room. "What are you going to do with your screwdriver?" she asked him, as he turned it over in his hands.

"I'm not sure…I wasn't expecting to get it back. You can keep it, if you like".

"Why don't you?"

"Well, I've been using a screwdriver for over twelve hundred years. Perhaps it's time for a change. Besides" he said, donning his sunglasses once more, "I'm rocking this look".

Romana chuckled; her amusement soon faded, and she asked, "Doctor…why did you lie to me?"

He frowned, taking the sunglasses off again. "Which lie, specifically?"

"You didn't tell me that you were going to let Davros take your regeneration energy. A lie of omission is still a lie…you could have _died,_ Theta".

"But I didn't, evidently".

" _I_ could have died" she insisted, and the casual smile on his face disappeared immediately.

"…I'm sorry" he said at last.

"You asked me if I trusted you" Romana reminded him, "And I do, but part of trust is honesty. And you promised, remember, you promised to tell me when you trying to make a hard choice so I could help you make the right one. I wish you would be honest with me".

"Then you probably shouldn't have married an impulsive liar. That was a mistake".

"Don't be ridiculous; marrying you could never be a mistake" she shook her head at him, before sighing, "I married you because I love you, Theta. And as your wife, I suppose I ought to set a good example". She took a deep breath, and admitted, "When you weren't waking up, I"-

"Gave me some of your regeneration energy?"

"How did you know?"

"Well, I guessed, but I wasn't sure until just now" he teased her, and she rolled her eyes at him, blushing slightly. "Well then, we're even. We can either stay angry at each other, or we can kiss and make up…that is the right phrase, isn't it?"

Romana nodded. "Yes…and the latter sounds good…"

/

Flavia was in the kitchen, making herself a cup of tea to soothe her nerves. She looked up when the door opened; the Corsair walked in. "Oh, hi V – I mean, Flavia" he greeted.

"Corsair" she nodded to him. He walked over to the fridge and took out a bottle of beer, snapping the lid off with a bottle opener. There was an awkward silence, broken only by him swallowing the alcohol, and Flavia stirring her tea…at last, Flavia inquired, "What were you going to say, before?"

He stifled a burp behind his hand, and said "Sorry…what do you mean?"

"Back on Skaro, when we…we thought we were going to be exterminated" Flavia explained, "You were trying to tell me something. You said that you'd always thought I was…what, exactly?" she inquired curiously.

The Corsair's eyes widened slightly. "Huh? Oh, yeah, that. Err, don't worry about it Flavia. It was just the, err, the fear talking…"

"It's rather rude to not answer a lady's question, Corsair" Flavia remarked primly, raising an eyebrow at him.

"It is? I mean, err...okay, what I was _going_ to say is, I always thought you were…um…pretty!" the Corsair exclaimed.

Flavia blinked in surprise. "R-really? Well…thank you, Corsair" she smiled politely. He gave her an awkward smile back, and raised the bottle he was holding in a sort of toast.

"No problem, Flavia".

"It really is a nice thing for you to say. You and I might have our differences now and again, but at the end of the day, I'm glad we're good friends. In fact…" she set her cup of tea on the counter, and much to his surprise, walked over and hugged him.

"Err…yeah. Me too" he answered, hugging her back… "Just friends" he murmured.


	8. Under The Lake Pt 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

Under the Lake – Part One

In an underwater mining facility known as The Drum, in Caithness, Scotland, the captain of the operation recorded an audio journal entry. "Private journal of Captain Jonathan Moran, 21st November 2119" he recited, "We have located a craft of unknown origin on the lake floor. Visual scans in situ revealed nothing, so we have brought the craft on board and myself and the crew will now investigate".

The spaceship they had found was white, and blocky; the back hatch lowered into a series of steps, into a single compartment with a large white cuboid inside. Moran, a muscular dark skinned man in military fatigues, asked incredulously, "How did they miss this in the initial survey?"

A young man named Tim Lunn, standing outside the craft, looked at the base's second in command, Cass. She signed out a message to him. "Cass says it was buried, and then the currents of the water must have shifted the rubble around" he explained to Moran. Another man, the marine geologist Mason Bennett, scanned the craft with a Geiger counter, checking for radiation. So far, he hadn't found anything.

"A conversation needs to be had about who owns this spaceship" insisted their mining company's representative, Richard Pritchard, climbing inside the mysterious craft.

Moran sighed and requested, "Can we stop calling it a spaceship? We don't know what it is".

"A case could be made that this is an asset, and my company has bought the rights to all assets"-

"Whoa, whoa" Moran cut him off, peering at something on the port wall, "What's this? Lunn, grab me a torch, will you?" he called.

"It was found on MOD property, even if that property is underwater" Pritchard continued to argue, as Lunn walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a torch, not noticing something flash past behind him. When he shut the door, he briefly thought he saw a strange, almost ghostly face appear behind his reflection in the mirrored surface…but when he spun around, there was nobody there.

"What you bought was the oil under the ground" Moran told Pritchard firmly, "Lunn? Where's the torch?"

He brought it over; Alice O'Donnell, their systems technician, came down the steps out of the darkened craft and took the torch from him with a smile. She gave it to Moran, who shone it on the peculiar symbols he'd spotted engraved onto the inside of the hull. He couldn't make anything of them, and neither did the others, so he switched the torch off and they left the craft.

"Can I go in?" asked Tim, signing the question to Cass. She signed back to say 'it's not safe', just as Moran was asking Bennett, "What is the background radiation?"

"Pretty much background level" he called back from inside the ship.

"Anything more, it would have shown up on the initial survey twenty years ago" O'Donnell shrugged.

"If it's not safe, how come you can go in?" Tim signed to Cass. Instead of answering, she signed a question of her own, and he translated, "How long do you think it's been down here?"

"Well, there's next to no corrosion" Bennett replied, eyeing the craft, "I've not seen technology like this…"

"Please don't say 'on Earth'" Moran cut in.

"…On Earth before" Bennett finished, hesitantly. He was only telling the truth…whatever this thing was, it was clearly _not_ from their planet. How could it be?

Moran was sceptical however, and sighed exasperatedly. O'Donnell sniggered behind him, but he ignored her, and suggested "Maybe it's some kind of experimental craft that got left behind when they abandoned the site".

"Wait, you think the Army would just lose a prototype weapon?" asked Bennett.

The captain turned to him and said a bit condescendingly, "You're new to the military, aren't you, son?"

"Cass says he might be right. It might have been here since the 1980s, when the valley flooded" Lunn translated for her; inside the craft, Pritchard was peering curiously at concentric rings of dots at the back…or was the front…of the mysterious vessel. Perhaps they were the key to figuring out what it was…how it was used…he glanced to his left in time to see a strange, ghostly figure, dressed in anachronistic clothing, reaching out for him. He pulled back in shock as it lunged at him; the dots glowed, and the craft's engines suddenly ignited.

"Cass!" cried Moran, dashing forwards; Cass was standing right in front of one of the engines. He leapt forward and shoved her out of the way, seconds before the engines ignited fully and a torrent of flame burst out, scorching him. Alarms blared and the rest of the crew fled for their lives. "Come on!" cried Lunn, pulling Cass to her feet, "Move! Come on, we need to go now!"

"Fire in main hangar" intoned the computer system, "Safety protocols have been initiated. All crew must evacuate immediately. This safety message was brought to you by Vector Petroleum".

They got out of the hangar and sealed the door, but Bennett had to pull O'Donnell back as she tried to get back in and help Moran. "We can't just leave him in there!"

"There was something in the spaceship, I saw it!" Pritchard cried out, panicking, as O'Donnell continued to struggle.

"O'Donnell. O'Donnell, he's dead" Bennett told her, "Didn't you see?"

"The fire, are we safe out here?" asked Lunn.

"It's fine" said Bennett, "The CO2 will put the fire out".

"It was you!" O'Donnell shouted accusingly, glaring at Pritchard, " _You_ weremessing about with the controls on that ship!"

Before Pritchard could defend himself, Cass screamed in horror, grabbing Lunn and pulling him closer. _Moran_ was there…he was mouthing something silently, and where his eyes should have been, there were just two large, dark holes…

"Moran" Bennett frowned, bewildered, "But, we just saw you…"

"He's…oh, my God…" O'Donnell muttered, "He's a…ghost".

Then another figure appeared, the same one that had tried to attack Pritchard, and the two ghosts advanced on the crew, hands outstretched…

/

Three days later, the TARDIS materialised in one of the bases corridors, whilst it was in 'night mode' – they had been heading somewhere else entirely, and the Doctor sensed that something was wrong with his time machine, as if she were agitated for some reason. He and Romana stepped out, partly to investigate and partly to find out what was wrong with the old box.

"What's wrong?" the Doctor asked the TARDIS, "You're not happy. Why aren't you happy? Tell me" he insisted, resting his hands on the smooth wooden exterior. Romana shook her head at him and pointed out, "She can't speak, love. How do you expect her to tell you anything?"

Before he could make a clever retort – which he would have – Clara stuck her head out the door. "Come on! We're on a roll!" she said impatiently. Ever since she'd begun travelling with the Time Quintet again, she'd wanted to embrace it, because she knew more than ever that life was too short to waste, and she knew they'd _never_ let her down… "Monsters, things blowing up" she prompted, before asking Romana, "Oh, hey, can we go back to that place where the people with the long necks have been celebrating New Year for two centuries? I left my sunglasses there; and most of my dignity".

"Make that two of us" the Corsair quipped cheerfully, standing by the console and attempting to get the controls to do something. He only received a static shock for his trouble, and rubbed his hand, glaring at the Time Rotor. Flavia rolled her eyes and remarked, "Well, that's what happens when you become intoxicated. We wouldn't have had to leave in such a hurry if you hadn't punched that one alien that was talking to me in the face" she reminded him.

"Hey, he was coming onto you! I was defending your honour" the Corsair insisted, "Aren't you always saying you wish I was more of a gentleman?"

"Gentlemen don't get drunk and punch people in the face" she deadpanned, before adding, "And what makes you think his advances were unwelcome?"

The Corsair stared at her incredulously. "Were _you_ drunk?" he asked bluntly; after all, why else would Flavia flirt with a complete stranger…or anyone, really. She didn't flirt, and he knew flirting.

Flavia stared at him, affronted, and huffed indignantly. "I most certainly was _not._ Really, Corsair, is it so hard to believe that I might appreciate a little bit of attention now and then?"

"Wait. _You_ want to be flirted with?" Clara inquired from the doorway, surprised. She too had assumed that the Time Lady…just wasn't interested in that sort of thing, if the way she rolled her eyes at the Corsair whenever he started flirting was any indication.

The Time Lady blushed slightly, as if just realising what she'd admitted earlier, and cleared her throat. "Well, I…I won't say it isn't unwelcome…why would you think I don't, Clara?" she inquired, pointedly asking their friend and _not_ the Corsair. She didn't want to know what sort of ridiculous answer he would come up with.

Clara shrugged and explained, "Well, you're always so…proper. And you don't normally take an interest in men…um. If I'm honest, I kind of thought…briefly, I mean…that maybe you were…y'know…."

Flavia raised a sceptical eyebrow. "You thought I was gay?"

"No! I mean, uh, yes…it was just a passing thought!"

"Who's gay?" asked Emily, stepping into the console room. She'd been changing her clothes, unlike her father she didn't want to wear the same thing all the time, it got boring. Right now she was wearing a pair of black jeans, red converse sneakers, and a plain red t-shirt emblazoned with the University of Mars logo. It was simple, but practical, just the way she liked it.

"Clara thinks Flavia is gay" the Corsair explained helpfully, ignoring the indignant glares he received from the two women.

"I do not!"

"I am not!"

They spoke simultaneously. The Corsair raised an eyebrow and commented, "You denied that awfully quickly, Flavia. What's wrong with being gay?"

"Well, nothing!" Flavia said hastily, flustered…which, she realised, was probably what the Corsair wanted. She cleared her throat, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of getting to her. "I meant no offence, and you know it. I was merely pointing out the fact that I'm straight".

"Good" he said firmly… "Err, it's good that you weren't being offensive. Not good that you're straight. Not that there's anything wrong with being straight, either"-

" _Ahem_ " the Doctor cleared his throat loudly, and they all jumped, not having noticed him and Romana come back inside the police box. "As fascinating as this conversation is" he said, sarcasm dripping from every syllable, "The TARDIS landed here for a reason, and since Romana insists that I don't merely leave you all to your own devices, do you mind if we go and see where 'here' is?"

Without waiting for an answer, he turned on his heel and strode out of the TARDIS, leaving the others little choice but to follow him. "Where are we?" asked Clara, looking around at the corridors.

"Underwater" the Doctor said, looking up through the ceiling, "Some sort of a base. The technology's twenty second century. Maybe military, maybe scientific" he explained.

"Is there a crew?"

"Well, we're breathing, so I'm gonna go with 'yes'" the Corsair suggested. They walked off down the corridor, and soon came to a crossroads of sorts. Clara stepped through the doorway and complained, "I want another adventure. Come on, you guys feel the same. You're itching to save a planet, I know it" she told the Time Quintet, before stepping through the doorway opposite.

The Doctor smiled behind her back; he liked her enthusiasm, and she wasn't wrong, he _did_ feel like playing the hero…

 _You are a hero_ Romana told him softly, _and you don't need to save a planet for me to know that._

 _Saving a planet would be impressive, though, wouldn't it?_

 _I shall refrain from replying at the risk of inflating your ego_ she replied, and he grinned at her. _Theta, I'm worried about Clara_ she admitted.

 _Why? Is she sick?_

 _No, but…she's been a bit over-enthusiastic lately, don't you think? Not to mention impatient. It's as if she's using the adventures to run away from something._

 _I'm sure it's nothing. She's probably just been bored, stuck on Earth, teaching, doing laundry. That's enough to make anyone crave a bit of adventure_ he said confidently.

Romana sighed. _Maybe you're right…or at least, I hope you are._

"Mum, dad, this way" Emily called, beckoning to them before stepping through another open doorway. It led into the mess hall, which was an actual mess, chairs overturned and food scattered about.

"Well, looks like you got your wish" the Doctor commented to Clara as they looked around. The place was abandoned, but there'd obviously been some sort of scuffle.

"Food fight?" Clara guessed, half-jokingly; she twanged a knife that was embedded in the wall.

"Who would throw a knife in a food fight?" Emily scoffed, "In an _actual_ fight, sure, but not a _food fight_. Something else happened here…" she stuck her finger into a cup of cold coffee, "Quite recently. About seven or eight hours ago, at a guess" she shrugged, before walking over to the fridges and pulling them open. "There are no bodies around, and look, the fridges are empty. So something must have made the crew abandon the base; they had time to gather all these supplies, but then they had to fight their way out" she deduced.

"Maybe they went for a swim, in the creepy flooded village outside" Clara suggested, gazing out of floor to ceiling windows, where the ruins of a long abandoned town could be made out, covered in algae. The Doctor and Romana smiled at Emily, proud of their daughter's reasoning skills. She smiled back, before going over to look at the ruins with Clara. "Oh, yeah. You see, this is more like it" the human grinned, holding her hand up. Emily grinned back and high fived her.

"So, mysterious enemy besets the base, forces the crew to retreat?" the Corsair summarised, "And what are the chances, do you suppose, that said mysterious enemy is still around?"

"Far too high" Flavia grumbled; it was just their luck, to land in the base after it had been abandoned but _not_ after whatever had caused the abandoning had left. At least the Corsair was around to…to distract it! Yes, and hold it off, whatever it was…not to protect her, not her _specifically,_ but all of them. The man wasn't half annoying sometimes, but when push came to shove he was very serious about protecting them, after all, they were all in this together.

They left the mess hall, and went further down the corridor, the Doctor in the lead. He stopped at a bend in the corridor. "Look, told you, crew" he said, pointing out two people crouched on the floor with their backs to the time travellers. Emily frowned a bit; the figures were awfully still, and they hadn't even heard anyone coming… "Are they alright?" she asked, keeping her voice low, just in case they turned out to be hostile.

"Let's find out" the Doctor murmured back, before walking forwards and calling, "Hello, sailors!"

The figures rose to their feet at the sound of his voice, and turned to face them…revealing that they weren't human; well, one of them was, the other was a Tivolian. More importantly, however, was the fact that they had black spaces instead of eyes, like skulls, and they were mouthing something. Clara and the Time Quintet stopped. "Right, did not expect that. Hands up, who expected that?" the Doctor asked as the figures advanced on them.

Clara and Flavia began to back away, but the Doctor quickly held up a hand to stop them. "Wait, wait. I don't think they're going to hurt us. I think that they're just curious" he said hopefully, leaning back as the Tivolian stepped right up to him, still mouthing silently, and the human…or whatever was left of him…stared down at Clara and Emily. The young Time Lady squinted at them, and wondered, "What is it they're mouthing?"

"Are you sure they're safe?" Clara inquired next, eyeing the two ghostly figures with a sense of unease. They were creepy, that was for sure…yet she loved the little thrill that ran up her spine because of that. It was strangely addicting.

"Well, I mean, define 'sure'" the Doctor retorted tensely, before looking back at the figures. "Look at you lovely chaps. What's happened to you, then?"

By now, the figures had stared at all six of them…or at least it seemed as if they were staring, despite not having any actual eyes to stare with. They turned, still muttering (in perfect unison, no less) and walked away from the time travellers, down the corridor. "We're following them, aren't we?" Flavia deadpanned. Oh well, she supposed she was a little curious…know thy enemy, and all that.

The Doctor nodded, and motioned for them to be quiet, as they cautiously made their way after the figures. "What are they?" Clara whispered.

"I haven't a clue" the Doctor admitted, "Isn't that exciting?"

/

The apparitions led them through the base towards the main hangar, where there were signs of a fire taking place that had long since been extinguished. When Clara and the Time Quintet walked in, the figures had disappeared, and the doors slid closed behind them. Flavia really hoped they weren't trapped.

"Where did they go?" Clara wondered aloud, before spotting the black craft and asking, "What is it, some kind of submarine?"

"No, it's alien" the Doctor answered, walking around to the back of the craft and up the ramp. Romana followed him, as did Clara and Emily, full of curiosity.

"You coming, V?" the Corsair asked Flavia, seeing that she wasn't coming to enter the craft. She sighed, having long since given up on telling him not to call her that…and it wasn't the worst nickname in the world, she supposed. "No, no, I'm going to look at the computer banks. There might be something on here that will tell us what happened to the crew, or what that spaceship is" she explained, nodding at some computers over to the side. The Corsair nodded, and stepped inside the craft.

The others were looking at four odd looking symbols carved onto the wall of the craft. "That's weird. The TARDIS hasn't translated it" the Doctor murmured. There was something odd about the symbols, but before they could put their fingers on it, Flavia heard a strange hissing noise behind her. She looked over to see that the two apparitions had returned. "Um, everyone, they're back" she called a warning.

The Doctor emerged from the spacecraft and said, "Hello! Did you want to show us this? It's very nice".

It appeared that the apparitions were still mouthing something. "Wait, are they saying something?" asked Clara, trying to get a better look at their lips. The human turned to the wall and hefted a fire axe off it, struggling a bit to lift the heavy weapon... "Okay, they now appear to be arming themselves" Clara noted, alarmed.

"Thank you for that observation, Clara" Flavia remarked sarcastically, getting up from her chair and moving away from the computers as the human advanced on them…although oddly enough, he was dragging the axe towards the others, as if Flavia wasn't even there. The others left the craft, as the Tivolian picked up a harpoon gun, and started to back away.

"Was it something she said?" the Doctor asked, pointing at Clara, "She does that. She once had an argument with Gandhi!" he announced, pulling Romana back as the human swung the axe at her, barely missing her stomach.

"I'm starting to see why the crew did a runner" Clara commented as the apparitions continued to advance. The Tivolian fired its harpoon, right at Emily, but Romana grabbed her arm and yanked her down in the nick of time. The Corsair whipped out his blaster, fired a warning shot into the air and yelled, "Run!"

They ran, dashing out of the hangar bay and into the corridor outside. A hand reached through the wall beside Clara's head; she screamed and jerked away, turning to see the human walk right through the walls, though they were now unarmed. That was less than comforting, especially when the Tivolian rose through the floor behind them. Clara grabbed at the Doctor's hand in fright, or tried to; but he'd already reached out to take Romana and Emily's hands, pulling them behind him.

"Run!" Clara shouted, taking off down another corridor. The others wasted no time in following, especially when a door opened at the end of the corridor and a young woman called out to them, "In here, quick!"

They put on a burst of speed, rushing into the small circular chamber, which quickly grew quite crowded with six extra people inside. The door was slammed shut moments after the Corsair tugged Flavia inside, doing a quick head count to make sure they were all accounted for. The other humans in the room backed away as the ghosts approached the doors, but the Doctor and his entourage peered at them curiously through the round, porthole like window.

The ghosts stared back at them, unseeing, but did not enter the room. "What are _you?_ " the Doctor wondered as they turned and walked away. Emily turned to the other humans who had been hiding in the room and politely greeted, "Hello. Um…sorry to turn up out of the blue like this" she apologised, before snorting in laughter, "Out of the blue, blue box, that's…okay, it's not that funny" she admitted.

"Blue box?" asked the young woman who'd called to them, her eyes widening, sounding almost…hopeful.

The Doctor nodded and pulled out the psychic paper, flashing it at them. "I'm the Doctor. This is my wife, Romana, our daughter Emily, and our friends the Corsair, Flavia and Clara" he introduced them all.

"You're from UNIT" one of the men, with short hair and a blue shirt, declared a bit accusingly.

"Well, if that what it says" the Doctor replied unconcernedly.

"I'm Pritchard" the man introduced, before gesturing to the bespectacled young man next to him, "This is Bennet"-

"O'Donnell" greeted the young woman with a wide smile, stepping forwards to shake the Doctor's hand. "It's you guys, isn't it? The Time Quintet! I am such a huge fan!" she laughed in delight…before putting on a serious expression, embarrassed, and adding "I mean, err, you know, nice work".

"Tim Lunn" the last man introduced himself, gesturing to the woman beside him, "I sign for Cass".

"So what's up with the Creepy McCreeperton's out there?" the Corsair inquired, nodding back at the doors, "What are they, and why did they try to kill us?"

"Well, they're uh, they're ghosts" Bennet told them, not knowing what else to say. None of them had any idea what was going on, just that they were being besieged in their own base by the ghost of Moran and some mole guy.

"They're not ghosts" the Doctor insisted sceptically.

Emily was a bit more open-minded, as she remarked thoughtfully, "They do seem a bit like ghosts, dad".

"Yeah, I'm with Emz on this one" the Corsair nodded, "Skull like faces, walking through walls…definitely ghost-like".

Flavia sighed and declared, "Well, for once, I agree with the Doctor. There are no such things as ghosts".

The deaf woman, Cass, began to sign something. "Cass is saying" – Tim began to explain.

"Thank you, but I don't actually need your help" the Doctor interrupted rather rudely, as was typical for him, "I can _speak_ sign. 'Go ahead'" he told Cass, signing at the same time. She blinked at him and started to sign the message out again…the Doctor watching her hand gestures with an increasingly confused expression on his face.

Emily, who was standing and watching them from the side, smirked at her father. "You've forgotten how to speak sign language, haven't you dad?" she guessed.

The Doctor sighed and admitted, "Err, yes, yes I have. I must have deleted it for semaphore. Someone get me a selection of flags" he instructed, as a rather annoyed Tim signed out his words for Cass' benefit.

"Oh, for goodness sake" Flavia rolled her eyes, stepping forwards, and signing fluently to Cass, 'I'm sorry about him. One more time, please?'

Cass sighed, but signed the message out a third time. Flavia nodded, smiled at her in thanks, and explained to the others, "She says the human was their former commanding officer, but they don't know who or what the other one is. He's actually a Tivolian" she explained for the benefit of the humans. Lunn signed the new word out to Cass, who picked it up quickly and nodded in understanding.

Clara stared at Flavia in surprise. "Since when do you speak sign language?" she couldn't help asking.

"Since I taught myself" she shrugged, "The TARDIS translation circuits can't really do much with signing, because it's a visual language and not an auditory one; I recently figured it might be useful to learn to actually translate and speak it. Turns out I was right" she smiled.

"Impressive" the Corsair nodded, actually sounding as if he meant it. Flavia's smile grew a little wider at that, and…if he didn't know any better, he'd swear a faint blush appeared on her cheeks.

Bennett declared, "See, I told you he was an alien. Didn't I say that?"

"Weird thing is, they're not violent" the Doctor informed the crew, "They're too cowardly. They wouldn't say boo to a goose".

"They're more likely to give the goose their car keys and bank details" Romana joked, before asking more seriously, "When did these…ghosts, for lack of a better word, first appear?"

"Oh, did you see that spaceship in the hangar?" asked O'Donnell, "Yeah, we found that on the lake bed and we'd just got it on board and one of the engines started up and Moran got…" she trailed off sadly, looking down, "Moran was killed".

"We're sorry to hear that" Romana told her sympathetically; Clara just came over and gave the other woman a hug. Lunn, on Cass' behalf, then explained, "Then they appeared and pretty much straight away started trying to kill us. So we grabbed what we could and we were looking for somewhere to hide, and that's when we realised the ghosts couldn't come in here".

"What is this place?" asked Clara, pulling away from O'Donnell, who gave her a grateful smile for the comfort.

"It's a Faraday Cage" the Doctor explained, "Completely impenetrable to radio waves, and apparently, whatever those things are out there. So, who's in charge now? I need to know who to ignore".

Lunn signed for Cass, "That would be me…her" he added, gesturing to Cass so there wasn't any confusion.

"Actually, that would be me" Pritchard corrected, handing the Doctor his card, "I represent Vector Petroleum. We've obtained the mining rights to the oil".

"The oil?" the Doctor asked, tossing the card aside, "Where are we?"

Emily picked the card up and handed it back to Pritchard, who nodded his thanks to her. Bennet explained, "This used to be a military training site. There was a dam overlooking it, but the dam burst and the valley was submerged".

"Then twenty years ago, we discovered a massive oil reservoir underneath it" Pritchard added.

The lights switched off for a moment, and then came back on, brighter, as a computerised voice announced "Good morning - entering day mode".

"Okay, it's morning" said O'Donnell, "We can go outside now".

"Thank God for that" Lunn muttered.

"At last, we can get out of here" Pritchard added in relief, heading for the door.

"Morning?" Clara asked in confusion.

Bennet took a towel from a hook and draped it over his shoulder, before explaining, "Yeah, we're too far below the surface for daylight, so we have to demarcate artificial days and nights".

O'Donnell pulled open the door. "I'd like to have a further look at that spaceship" the Doctor admitted, "but what about those things that aren't ghosts?"

"Oh, it's alright, they only come out at night" O'Donnell smiled, before she and her crew left the Cage.

"Weird how that is not comforting" Clara muttered to the Time Quintet, who only shrugged or nodded in agreement, before they followed the crew down the corridor.


	9. Under The Lake Pt 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: Sorry this chapter is late; I've been away from my computer for a few days. Today is a fantastic day – not only am I finally updating Consequences, but I passed my driving test!

Under the Lake – Part Two

With the threat of the ghosts put aside for a while, the Drum's crew and the Time Quintet, along with Clara, returned to the main hangar. "If whatever they are"- the Doctor began as he strode purposefully towards the alien craft, only to be interrupted by Pritchard insisting, "They're ghosts".

"They're not ghosts" the Doctor retorted immediately, before continuing as if nothing had happened, "Have been trying to kill you, why haven't you abandoned the base?"

"That was my call" Pritchard admitted, though he didn't seem concerned with the weight of his decision. "We've got about a trillion dollars worth of mining equipment here. We're not just going to abandon it" he explained, before noticing the other's disapproving expressions. "What? If it all goes pear-shaped, it's not them that lose a bonus" he protested, nodding at the rest of the crew.

"If it all goes pear-shaped they could lose their _lives_ " Romana frowned at him.

Flavia added, "Whilst I understand the desire to protect one's assets, profits should never come before people, Mr Pritchard".

Pritchard stared at the two women, feeling indignant and rather defensive; but before he could respond, the Doctor cut in to say, "It's okay, we understand. You're an idiot". His blunt insult had the other man's expression turning sour, but the Doctor was already distracted by other thoughts. "Come to mention it, why is there a Faraday cage on the base?" he demanded.

"It's the mining equipment" Bennett replied, "It runs on nuclear fission. The Faraday cage has been lined with lead to act as a shelter in the event of a radiation leak".

"Okay, so to sum it up, a Tivolian and your former captain have been haunting you all, in an underwater mining base powered by nuclear energy, and they seem set on killing you but only at night" the Corsair summarised, "That sound about right?"

The crew looked at one another; O'Donnell nodded, deciding it was a pretty accurate description of the situation. Meanwhile, the Doctor, Emily and Clara had entered the spaceship again, looking for any clue as to its origin or what might be controlling the 'ghosts'. "It all started with this ship. This is where the answer will be" the Doctor insisted confidently. He looked down at the floor of the craft, before crouching down and pulling a hatch open.

"What's happened to the stuff you've removed?" he asked the crew, who simply looked at him blankly. He bit back a comment about pudding brains and explained, "This is for long-haul flights. There should be a suspended-animation chamber for the pilot right here. Plus, one of the power cells is missing".

 _That_ got Pritchard's attention. "Power cells?" he inquired, hurrying into the spaceship.

"Yeah, you can see the casing is empty" the Doctor explained.

Outside the craft, Lunn and Cass were in the middle of a mostly silent argument, signing back and forth. "It's not safe out here!" Lunn objected, speaking aloud from sheer frustration, even as he signed along with his words so Cass could understand.

Clara emerged from the spaceship and walked over, asking, "What's the matter?"

"She won't let me look inside the spaceship. She says it's not safe. I'm saying it's not safe out here" explained Lunn. Flavia tapped Cass on the shoulder to get her attention, and signed something to her; which made Cass smile and nod. Lunn quickly translated, "Um, she says she's with Cass on the spaceship being dangerous".

"What makes you think it's dangerous?" the Corsair asked, as he stood on the ramp, "It looks like your average spaceship to me. It's actually kind of boring".

"Compared to the TARDIS?" Clara guessed.

"Nah, just in general" he shrugged.

Flavia explained, "I'm just taking precautions; I'm sure Cass is too. All the trouble started _after_ this craft was brought in, and I know it's foolish to assume cause and effect like that, I'm just saying…I'd rather not take any chances" she shrugged.

"I imagine they're pretty valuable" Pritchard remarked without thinking.

The Doctor's brows furrowed. "What?"

"I mean, powerful. Those power cells. I imagine they're pretty powerful" he amended quickly.

"Well, they can zap a vessel from one side of the galaxy to the other, so, you know, take a wild stab in the dark".

"And the missing one must still be out there" Pritchard added thoughtfully.

"Yes, well, otherwise…sorry, why is this man still talking to me?" the Doctor asked petulantly. He'd directed his question at O'Donnell, but she didn't have an answer, so instead she explained, "We haven't removed anything. There hasn't been time".

Pritchard left the spaceship; moments later, the Doctor and Emily emerged as well, the latter going over to stand beside her mother. "So what have we got?" the Doctor asked rhetorically, "Moran dies, and then those things appear. They can walk through walls. They only come out at night and they're sort of see-through…"

Clara could practically see the gears turning in the Doctor's head, and she couldn't believe her ears. "Doctor, wait, you're not saying…"

Rather than reply, he pointed at Pritchard, "You, boss one. Where's the bridge?"

"Uh, it's um"-

"Too slow" he said impatiently, turning to Cass instead, "Real boss one, or boss's helper…ask her where the bridge is" he ordered Lunn, who at first simply frowned at his rude tone.

 _Theta…_ his wife mentally admonished him; the Doctor sighed and added, " _Please_ ".

So Lunn signed the request out to Cass, and then translated her reply. "Um, she wants to know what you need the bridge for".

"Because Flavia is right; this is connected to that spaceship and it's better if we keep our distance for the time being".

Said Time Lady blinked in surprise. "Wait, you heard that?"

"I have very good ears. Now, where's the bridge?"

Cass beckoned for them to follow her. When they reached the bridge for the facility, the Doctor asked, "Where was I? Don't answer that. They're ghosts!" he grinned excitedly, "Yeah, ghosts".

"Seriously?" asked a very sceptical Flavia, raising an eyebrow.

"You said there was no such thing" Clara reminded him, "You actually pooh-poohed the ghost theory".

"Yes, well, well, there was no such thing as, as socks or smartphones and badgers until there suddenly were" the Doctor insisted rather vaguely, "Besides, what else could they be? They're not holograms, they're not Flesh Avatars, they're not Autons, they're not digital copies bouncing around the Nethersphere. No, these people are literally, actually, dead. Wow. This is, it's amazing! I've never actually met a proper ghost" he remarked excitedly.

Cass didn't take too kindly to his enthusiasm in the face of their tragedy; she signed something, and Lunn swiftly translated, "Moran was our friend".

The smile vanished from the Doctor's face as he started to realise he might have been…less than sensitive. Clara sidled up to him and muttered, "The cards".

"Oh! Oh, right you are" he nodded, fumbling in his pocket for some cards that Clara had written helpful prompts on.

"Come here" she said, taking the cards and looking through them for the right one. 'I completely understand why it was difficult not to get captured.' 'It was my fault, I should have known you didn't live in Aberdeen'…

Flavia signed a reply back to Cass, speaking aloud at the same time so the others could follow. "We know, and we're sorry. You'll have to excuse the Doctor. He…gets overexcited" she shrugged helplessly. Cass hesitated, and then nodded, accepting Flavia's apology.

Then the Doctor cleared his throat and solemnly read from the prompt card Clara had found for him. "I'm very sorry for your loss. I'll do all I can to solve the death of your friend slash family member slash pet".

Clara gave him a ' _seriously?'_ look and took the card back; the Corsair and Emily suppressed sniggers, and Flavia resisted the urge (quite easily, she had plenty of practice by now) to face-palm.

 _It was good of you to try, love, but I don't think she meant for you to read every word_ a highly amused Romana told him. He gave her a long suffering look, which quickly vanished when she pecked him on the lips. "But don't you see what this means?" he asked the others, unable to keep the curiosity and excitement out of his voice, "Death! It was the one thing that unified every single living creature in the universe, and now it's gone. How can you just sit there? Don't you want to go out there right now, wrestle them to the ground and ask them questions until your throat falls out?"

"Not really" Flavia quipped bluntly, ignoring the Corsair's snort of laughter. "And I'm really not convinced by your argument for _why_ these things have to be ghosts. I mean, there weren't just suddenly socks and smartphones and badgers – the first two were _invented,_ by several different species, and badgers evolved like any other creature. By that logic, ghosts have existed since humans first came up with the idea of ghosts".

"Yeah, but like the Doctor says, they act like ghosts, and they look like ghosts…it would be easier just to call them ghosts, you know, V".

"….Alright, fine. We'll call them ghosts, but just for convenience sake".

"And as I also said" the Doctor interrupted, "What else could they be? If you figure it out, Flavia, let us know…but come on! Aren't you all just bursting with questions? Think of what we could learn from these fellows! We could ask them what death is like, does it hurt, do they still get hungry? Do they miss being alive? Why can they only handle metal objects? Oh, I didn't know I'd noticed that. Okay, so they'll try to kill you, blah, blah, blah. What does that matter? You come back. A bit murder-y, sure, but even so!" he rambled, pacing back and forth.

Romana stepped in front of him and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Breathe, dear. Calm down…I haven't seen you this excitable since we met Shirley Bassey".

"Okay…question one. What is a ghost? Question two…what do they want?" he asked once he'd relaxed a bit. He always did feel calmer around his wife…though the hand loosely holding hers tensed when, without warning, the lights went off.

"Whoa" cried O'Donnell, "Whoa, what's happening?"

"Good evening. Entering night mode" the computer intoned.

"That's not right" she shook her head, hurrying to the control panels, "We're switching back into night mode again. This can't happen! No, no, no!"

As the lights dimmed, the distant sound of a tolling bell could be heard drifting down the corridors. Bennett frowned at the noise and asked, "Err, what's doing that?"

Romana's eyes widened. "Doctor, that's the"-

"TARDIS Cloister Bell!" he cried, rushing from the room, closely followed by Clara. Romana looked at Emily and told her, "Wait here with the others", before hurrying off after her husband and honorary sister.

Emily immediately looked at her godparents and told them, "Wait here with the others", running off before either Flavia or the Corsair could protest…not that the Corsair would have likely protested anyway. Romana heard footsteps behind her and looked over her shoulder at… "Emily! I thought I told you"-

"I want to see what's going on, and help!"

"What _is_ going on?" Clara demanded as they reached and entered the TARDIS, "Guys, what's wrong?"

"It must be the ghosts. That's why she was upset when we got here" the Doctor realised, hurrying up to the console and attempting to prevent the TARDIS from taking off.

"Why?" Clara frowned in confusion, "I don't understand".

"It's just what I was saying. You live and you die. That's it. The ghosts are aberrations. A splinter of time in the skin. They're unnatural. She wants to get away from them".

"So what do we do?"

The Doctor turned a handle on the console, and the Cloister Bell ceased its tolling, the lights dimming as the engines powered down. "Put the handbrake on" he said simply. Emily sighed a bit, thinking _great…all that fuss, for nothing._

Clara shrugged out of her leather jacket and tossed it over a railing, before heading back towards the doors. Emily spun on her heel and followed Clara, but they both stopped when the Doctor called, "Whoa! Ho, ho, ho, ho! Where do you two think you're going?"

"Out there, where the action is" Clara smirked excitedly; she and Emily fist-bumped, and the young Time Lady added, "Yeah, you and mum can't expect me to stay behind 'where it's safe' anymore. I can take care of myself, you know".

"We know, but I just"- Romana started to say, only to be interrupted by the Doctor saying, "Oh, this is my own fault. I like adventures as much as the next man. If the next man is a man who likes adventures. Even so, don't, don't go native" he warned, pointing at Clara.

"What do you mean?" she asked, bewildered, "I'm not".

"We can't help no"-

"There's a whole dimension in here, but there's only room for one _me_ ".

"But dad, I'm your daughter" Emily protested, "One day _I'll_ be a legendary Time Lord…err, Lady, rescuing civilisations throughout time and space; so I should really start practising as early as possible" she reasoned.

The Doctor tried to protest, only to be cut off by Romana clearing her throat. " _Ahem._ If I could finish this time?"

"Oh…sorry, dear" he apologised, "Go ahead".

"Thank you…Emily, you're right. You've grown up and I know you can handle yourself, up here" she tapped her temple, and then rested her hand on her chest, over her hearts, "But in here, you're still my little girl, and I'm your mum. I worry, especially when there's an unknown enemy on the loose...and Clara, we love your company, and we're thrilled you enjoy our adventures so much…but, well, you _have_ seemed a tad over-eager lately. We just want you to remember that you're still human".

Clara and Emily both nodded in understanding. "You just want to protect us; we get it" Emily smiled appreciatively.

"But can you blame us? You're just as bad" Clara joked, "I mean, Doctor, you were just raving about ghosts like a kid who's had too much sherbet!"

"You know what you need?" he asked out of the blue, "You need a hobby".

"I really don't".

"Or even better, a relationship. Come on, you lot, you're bananas about relationships. You're always writing songs about them, or going to war, or getting tattooed…"

"Yes, we get the idea" Romana chuckled, before adding, "We felt that we had to say something".

"I know" Clara nodded, "And I appreciated it".

"We both do".

"Because we've got a duty of care" the Doctor added, in a show of husbandly solidarity…that was a thing, right?

"Which you take very seriously, we know" Clara nodded in agreement.

"So can we stop now?"

"Not forever" Romana answered before Clara could, "But for the time being, yes. Let's go back to the others…and try to avoid the ghosts".

/

The crew watched four of the newcomers rush out at the sound of the unfamiliar alarm…Bennett turned to the remaining pair and hesitantly inquired, "Do, um, do they…do that a lot?"

"If by 'that', you mean rush off without warning, then yes".

"It's sort of the Doctor's speciality; much like mine is shooting things, and Flavia's is glaring disapprovingly at people…" Flavia raised an eyebrow at the Corsair, who gestured to her and said, "See what I mean?"

"Never mind that, we need to get a move on" O'Donnell declared decisively; she'd work on resetting day mode when everyone was safe, and she switched on the intercom. Before speaking into it, she looked over at Cass, silently asking for permission to give the order…the leader nodded, so O'Donnell turned to the intercom once more. "Attention, all crew. The Drum has switched to night mode early so grab provisions and make your way to the Faraday cage" she instructed firmly.

Down in the base's airlock, an oblivious Pritchard pulled off the helmet of his diving suit, noticing a shadowed figure standing on the other side of the door. "That you, Bennett?" he asked distractedly, "I went out looking for that missing power cell. Okay, contractually, it's a grey area, but I reckon we can argue everything non-indigenous is an asset and therefore…" he trailed off. Something wasn't right; normally, by this point, Bennett would be awkwardly protesting that he couldn't just sell alien artefacts…

"Bennett?" he called. If the man was playing some kind of prank on him…the blood drained from Pritchard's face as the figure stepped forwards, and he realised it was Moran, or the ghost of Moran rather; but that was impossible! "We're meant to be in day mode! You shouldn't be here" he protested ineffectually. Moran simply stared through him with those blank, soulless eyes, his lips moving silently.

"What? What? What are you saying?" Pritchard frowned in bewilderment. He tried to open the door, but it was stuck…or locked. Peering through the porthole, his eyes widened as he saw Ghost-Moran reaching for the control pad. "No, Moran, don't!" he cried, trying to grab his helmet; suddenly, gallons of water poured into the enclosed space, crashing into him and sending him flying, knocking his skull against the wall…

/

Lunn translated for Cass as she signed out instructions to the crew. "Okay, uh, Bennett, you're going to find those four that left and then go straight to the mess hall"-

"You might want to skip straight to the mess hall, actually" the Corsair cut in, "They're not stupid, and besides, we can communicate telepathically. Hang on a second" he advised, before closing his eyes and reaching out, sending a message to the others to go to the mess hall…a few seconds later he received a reply that Clara and Emily would go there, but Romana and the Doctor were coming back to the bridge. He relayed this information to Lunn, who in turn reported it to Cass.

Bennett left to meet up with Clara and Emily, and guide them back to the Faraday Cage once they'd gathered all the provisions they could. "The rest of you, go to the Faraday Cage. Cass and I will stay here and try to switch us back to day mode".

"No. I'm staying here" O'Donnell insisted stubbornly, "Lunn, tell Cass we already lost Moran, we can't lose her too!"

Suddenly, Cass realised that someone else was unaccounted for. She signed something to Lunn, who quickly translated, "Err, Pritchard didn't come with us. Has anyone seen him?"

"He might have gone to the Faraday Cage already" O'Donnell suggested with a shrug, "You could look for him there, whilst I switch us back to day mode. I know the controls the best" she reasoned.

"I'm staying as well" the Corsair decided, "On guard duty, per se. Hey Flavia, you'll let me know if you find him, right?"

Flavia nodded, and headed for the door. She paused before she opened it, peering through the window for any sign of the ghosts, and looked over her shoulder. "Try not to get killed" she advised the Corsair, who threw her a mock-salute.

/

Down in the mess hall, Bennett, Clara and Emily were busy gathering provisions, keeping an eye out for any sign of Moran or the Tivolian appearing. "So, what is it you do, Bennett?" asked Clara, "In the base, I mean".

"Oh, err, I'm the marine geologist. I take samples of the rocks, see where the best oil traces are, that sort of thing" he explained.

There was a crackling sound, and O'Donnell spoke over the intercom, "Pritchard, you are unaccounted for. Contact the bridge or get to the Faraday cage immediately. Pritchard, contact the bridge or get to the Faraday cage!"

"I'd love to work for UNIT, Earth's first line of defence, and all. I'm probably not suited, though. Not much of a fighter. More of a bleeder" Bennett added with an awkward smile.

Emily spotted someone in a yellow protective suit, standing with his back to them…but she could have sworn she hadn't heard the door opening. "Um, Mr Pritchard, is that you?"

Clara and Bennett looked over as well. "Pritchard! Where you have you been? Everyone's been looking for you. What's with the wet suit?" Clara wondered.

"Yeah, where have you been?" Bennett demanded. Emily frowned uncomfortably; something didn't feel right, and she sidled over to Clara, ready to pull her away if anything happened. Bennett walked over to the intercom control and pressed it, saying "O'Donnell, it's okay. Pritchard's in here!"

"Pritchard, you moron. Grab your stuff, we're locking down early. In case I can't get this back into day mode" she replied, before cutting off.

"Is he alright?" Clara frowned, realising much as Emily had, that something wasn't quite right. Before Emily or Bennett could reply, they heard something bumping against the floor to ceiling reinforced windows…a figure in a dry suit, floating limp outside.

"Man overboard" Bennett gasped, switching on the intercom once more, "Man overboard. Man overboard! We need a rescue team in the water now!"

"It's him!" Emily exclaimed, pointing at the figure, "It's Pritchard…he's dead".

The figure turned around, revealing empty black eye sockets, and the repetitively mumbling mouth. Cass, Lunn and Flavia ran in, having been nearby when Bennett made his panicked announcement.

"He's a ghost" Clara realised, backing away with Emily, "He's another ghost".

Ghost-Pritchard lifted a chair and advanced on them…back in the bridge, the Corsair, Romana and the Doctor watched in alarm as O'Donnell frantically typed on the computers. "I'm going to help them" the Corsair announced, striding towards the door. Just as he opened it, Romana called, "Corsair, wait!"

The lights returned, and the computer announced "Good morning. Entering day mode" – all four of them sighed in relief. Once again, the crew and the time travellers gathered in the bridge, watching CCTV footage of Pritchard's fate as he shouted to ghost-Moran to stop, moments before being washed out of the airlock into the lake. Emily felt sorry for him…he hadn't been the nicest person, but no one deserved to die like that.

"They're working out how to use the base against us" the Doctor realised, "Altering the time settings so they can go about uninhibited, opening the airlocks. They're learning".

"And now there's three of them" Clara added glumly.

Bennett turned to Cass and Lunn, and inquired, "Cass, what do we do?"

"We abandon the base" Lunn translated, before adding, "Topside can send down a whole team of marines or ghost-busters or whatever".

"Wait, wait"- the Doctor cut in; Cass signed another message directed at him, and Lunn relayed it. "I can't force you to leave, so you can stay and do the whole cabin in the woods thing and get killed or drowned, if you want. But my first priority is to protect my crew".

"We understand, but we need to figure this out" Flavia replied, signing along with her words.

"Can you teach me that?" the Corsair asked, nodding at her hands. Flavia looked at him in surprise, but before she could reply, Lunn – on Cass' behalf – was saying, "O'Donnell, contact Topside. Tell them we're abandoning the base on my orders".

"Topside, Topside, this is Lance Corporal Alice O'Donnell from Drum Control. Over" she reported.

"Drum Control, this is Topside. We have received your message. Submarine on its way. Over".

That was news to them. "Repeat, Topside. Over" O'Donnell requested, a puzzled frown on her face.

"We've received your request for a rescue sub. It's two minutes away. Over".

"Topside, who did you speak to and when was this request made? Over".

"Drum Control, it was in Morse code and arrived maybe half an hour ago. Said it was urgent, comms were down, two crew members critically ill, full paramedic team requested. Over".

Suddenly, the Doctor snatched the handset from O'Donnell and spoke into it. "Topside, this is the Doctor, UNIT security visa seven one zero Apple zero zero. You may be familiar with my work. Call back the sub" he ordered.

"Doctor, why would"-

"Call it back! We have a hazardous and undefined contagion on board. This base is now under quarantine" he warned, before hanging up.

"What did you do that for?" Bennett demanded.

The Corsair answered first. "Isn't it obvious? Nobody here sent a message before now for a rescue sub, which means the ghosts must have sent one. They want more people down here".

"Why would they do that?" asked Lunn.

"Well, I don't know, but I'm pretty certain it's not so they can all form a boy band" the Doctor quipped, "Okay. We solve this on our own. The ghosts can only come out at night so they change the base's time settings. Why? What's different at night?"

"It's mainly atmospheric" O'Donnell explained, "The lights are dim, the noise from the engines is muffled".

"It can't just be the lights though" Emily frowned thoughtfully, "There must be something else that's different".

Cass realised something and signed it to Lunn, "The diagnostic sweep. When the systems are checked, that stops at night to save power" he explained.

"Which systems, exactly?" asked Romana.

"Life support, the locks" O'Donnell explained, "They're electromagnetic. They have to be secured in case of flooding, so throughout the day, they're checked, one by one, every few seconds".

"The answer is in there somewhere, I can smell it" the Doctor muttered.

"So what do you propose we do?" asked Flavia.

"O'Donnell. Excellent work, returning the base to day mode" he complimented the young woman, who blushed slightly and grinned.

"Shut up, it was nothing" she said modestly… "You really think so?"

"Now put it back into night mode".

"What?!" she gaped at him.

"We know nothing" the Doctor insisted, "We don't know what they want. That's what's getting us killed. Well, I won't run. Not any more" he declared "So, O'Donnell, kindly put the base back into night mode. We want to know what these ghosts are after? We ask them. We're going to do the impossible. We're going to capture a ghost" he grinned excitedly.


	10. Under The Lake Pt 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: Belated Happy Easter! Or as I like to call it, Belated Happy Chocolate Egg Day!

Under the Lake – Part Three

"So what's the plan?" the Corsair asked, moments after the Doctor had announced his intention to capture the ghosts.

"Excellent question – we know that the ghosts cannot enter the Faraday Cage, so theoretically, if they were to be lured inside, they won't be able to leave it".

"Theoretically?" asked Bennett.

"We need to split up and let the ghosts follow us right into the Cage" the Doctor continued, ignoring Bennett, "First things first, O'Donnell, I need a map of the complex to figure out the optimal route to the Cage" he instructed. The young technician snapped an eager salute and sat down at the bank of computers, cracking her knuckles and getting to work.

Lunn, feeling rather indignant on his boss' behalf, plucked up the courage to demand, "Excuse me, who put you in charge?"

"I did. Do you know anything about capturing unknown hostiles?"

"N-no" said Lunn, flustered, "But this is our base and"- he was cut off by Cass, tapping him on the shoulder. The two of them began to converse in sign language…Clara leaned over towards Flavia and muttered, "What are they saying?"

"She's telling him to listen to the Doctor" Flavia replied, "That we're the only ones who know how to stop these things".

"No, sorry, this is insane" Bennett protested, "We can't go near those things, they…they killed Pritchard. Who knows who could be next?"

"Them attacking us is rather what I'm counting on" the Doctor admitted, "But don't look so worried. You're all going to team up with someone".

"Who's going to lure the ghosts?" O'Donnell inquired curiously, before adding, "Just so you know, I'm totally okay with"-

"Nah, sorry, it can't be you" the Corsair shook his head, "We'll need you to direct us via intercom and seal off areas as we move, to channel the ghosts. I'll go with Bennett, Romana can go with Clara"-

"No, _I'll_ go with Clara, thank you. Romana and Emily can be the ones to"-

"Why can't _I_ go with Clara, dad? We were just talking about this, I'm not a kid anymore, I'm a Time Lady, a universe defender in training! I can handle a few measly ghosts".

"I was going to give you the most important job, darling. You and your mother can lure the ghosts the rest of the way into the Cage…"

"Really?!" she asked hopefully. 

"Via hologram" he finished. Emily, naturally, was less than amused by this.

"Seriously?" she huffed impatiently, "Dad, just let me try. We can look out for each other, and I'll be really careful, I promise. _Please_ can I go with Clara?"

His fatherly instincts were all but shouting for him to refuse, to insist it was too dangerous…but, his little girl had grown up, and he'd been sheltering her for a long time…and they wouldn't be in the line of fire, as it were, for very long. The Doctor sighed in defeat and reluctantly agreed, "Very well…you can go with Clara; so long as you both stick together, understand?"

"Understood" she nodded, beaming, and gave him a hug. The Doctor stiffened a bit, but in all honesty he was starting to grow used to the hugs…from Romana, Emily and Clara only, not from anyone else, he was well past the point of hugging total strangers.

"Great, now that's settled, Flavia can go with Lunn"- said the Corsair, only to be interrupted by Flavia declaring, "That won't work; Lunn and I are the only ones here who speak sign language, remember? It makes far more sense for Romana to go with me and for Lunn to stay here, and translate for Cass".

"Ok, fine. I'll go with Bennett, Emily with Clara, you go with Romana and the Doctor can lure them the rest of the way with his holograms. Well, what are we waiting for?"

/

 _This plan is still insane_ Bennett thought nervously, as he and the Corsair made their way through the Drum, following the unknown signal on the Corsair's sonic screwdriver. According to the Doctor, if said signal wasn't being produced by anything in the mining facility, it must be the ghosts…a theory that was borne out when they peeked around a corner, and saw the three ghosts gathered together. Ghost-Pritchard was standing halfway through a wall, the alien was halfway up the wall, and Moran was on the ceiling.

They waited for the signal…the lights dimmed one by one, plunging the whole base into an eerie artificial twilight. "Good evening" announced the computer, "Entering night mode".

Bennett and the Corsair exchanged a glance, a nod, and stepped out in view of the ghosts. "H-hey, how's it going?" Bennett asked, the first thing that came into his head, just to get their attention. It worked; Pritchard emerged fully from the wall and turned to face them, the ghosts beginning to advance.

"Catch us if you can!" the Corsair said cheekily, before dashing off to catch up with Bennett, who had bolted pretty much the moment the ghosts started moving. Everyone was being watched via live CCTV in the bridge, by the Doctor, Lunn, Cass and O'Donnell.

"Bennett and the Corsair have got them moving" the latter reported, doing her best to remain professional despite the frissons of excitement running through her at the thought of helping _the_ Time Quintet, "and Clara and Emily are in position".

The Doctor mentally tracked everyone as he scanned a map of the Drum. _Emily, Bennett and the Corsair are going to run across the top of the T-Junction to your right, in about ten seconds. You and Clara need to draw the ghosts, but don't let them too close, and take the first right, then second left, remember that_ he reminded his daughter; they were speaking telepathically, because they weren't sure if the ghosts could hear them, but they didn't want to risk the ghosts overhearing the instructions and plan and not being fooled.

 _I_ know _, dad_ Emily sighed a bit exasperatedly. She and Clara waited until Bennett dashed past, closely followed by the Corsair, who shot them a wink as he hurried past. When the ghosts appeared, she called out the first thing that came into her head – "Hey, you! Yeah, come and get us, you…dumb ghosts!"

It perhaps was not the most eloquent of jibes, but it captured the ghosts' attention, as all three paused and turned to advance upon Emily and Clara.

 _Romana, Flavia, they're coming your way. When Clara and Emily go left, you need to keep the ghosts moving on the same path they are now_.

 _Yes, dear, we know_ Romana answered with more patience than her daughter, _and then we'll go through the flood door fifty yards on our left, and O'Donnell will close it once we're through, correct?_

"I can hear them coming" Flavia announced suddenly; she and Romana stepped out of their hiding place, just as Emily and Clara came around the corner. They exchanged brief thumbs up signals and the younger pair ducked into another corridor, moments before the ghosts appeared.

"Well, it took you long enough! Hurry, then, before we get away!"

They turned and hurried down the corridor; Flavia looked over her shoulder to check the ghosts had taken the bait, and much to her alarm, only Ghost-Pritchard was following them. "Romana, two of them went after the girls!"

/

O'Donnell's eyes widened in alarm as she watched the CCTV, and she hastily reported, "We have a problem. They've separated".

"What?"

"Moran and the mole guy are going after Clara and"-

"Emily" the Doctor finished, "I need to get down there, _now_ ".

"Wait! We've got to stick to the plan, we can guide them from here" O'Donnell called out, before switching on the intercom. "Clara, Emily, look out. Two ghosts are still on your case, right behind you" she warned them.

"I'm beginning to think we should have let the ghosts in on the plan" Clara commented, when she looked over her shoulder and saw Ghost-Moran and the Tivolian – that was the name, right? – still on their trail. She and Emily picked up the pace, and O'Donnell told them, "There's a flood door around the corner to your right. I can close it from here, once you're both through".

"Listen to me" the Doctor interrupted, "You two need to get through that door before the ghosts see you" he warned them urgently.

Moments later, Emily called out, "Made it!"

"Now, O'Donnell, fast as you can!"

The door marked '17018' slid closed; Emily and Clara leaned against it, trying to pant quietly, as the ghosts marched past…once they knew they were safe, they grinned at each other and shared a fist bump.

Meanwhile, Romana and Flavia were still being trailed by Ghost-Pritchard. _We're nearly at the door_ Romana told the Doctor, as they neared the flood door on their left.

 _He's right behind you, hurry!_

The two of them darted into the storage compartment that the door led to, and O'Donnell closed the door as quickly as she could…but then Ghost-Pritchard's blankly staring face appeared in the porthole. _"_ He saw us" Flavia gasped; she and Romana backed up against the wall, as Pritchard phased through the door; much to the alarm of the Doctor, watching from the bridge. "No, no…Romana?!" he called into the intercom, "Can you hear me? What's happening?"

"There's no intercom in there; or a camera" O'Donnell told him; it was meant to be a spare storage compartment, there were just a few tools in there…

Metal tools, a fact which Ghost-Pritchard took full advantage of as he reached for a wrench hanging on the wall. Flavia tensed; their species might have had thicker skulls than humans, so they'd survive the attack, but she wasn't exactly thrilled at the prospect of being bludgeoned…

Suddenly, the Doctor had an epiphany; "O'Donnell, open that flood door again!"

"Why?" Lunn questioned, even as O'Donnell hastened to comply.

"It's a _ghost_!" he snapped, frustrated at the slow, pudding brained humans not understanding, and reached out to his wife through their close mental bond. _Romana, he's a ghost! O'Donnell's opening the door again, you can escape!_

"Get ready" she told Flavia, gripping the other woman's arm. Pritchard swung the blunt object up in the air just as the door behind him swung open – and they made a break for it, dashing for the exit, right through the ghost and into the corridor. Flavia slammed the door shut behind her and they ran for their lives, darting behind a corner and pressing their backs to the wall.

 _Romana! Are you alright?_

 _Yes, just about_ she replied with a shudder, _never want to do that again, though. It was…cold._

 _Is he still after you?_

Romana peeked around the corner, but Pritchard was nowhere to be seen. _No…he's gone. It doesn't matter – we need to stick with the plan._

 _Right, yes._ The Doctor turned to O'Donnell and asked her, "Where are Bennett and the Corsair, are they in position?"

"There" O'Donnell pointed at the screens, "Oh God, look!"

 _Corsair, there are two ghosts around the corner from Bennett and you._

 _Yeah, we noticed_ the Corsair replied drily, eyeing Moran and the Tivolian. The two ghosts were doing nothing but standing there, swaying and muttering silently at each other.

 _The Faraday Cage is across the intersection and down the corridor to your right. This last bit is down to you._

 _Well, wish us luck_ he sighed, before grabbing Bennetts sleeve and stepping out in full view of the ghosts. Once he was sure, moments later, that he'd gotten their attention, he and Bennett ran for it. As they led the ghosts towards the Faraday Cage, Pritchard emerged and joined the chase. "Well, at least they're not split up anymore" the Corsair noted, "Anytime, Doctor!"

When the ghosts came around the corner, Bennett and the Corsair had ducked into another corridor to hide, and Lunn was standing inside the Faraday Cage, looking confused and a bit nervous. The ghosts walked towards him, into the Cage…and right through him. His image flickered, as the door shut and locked behind them. Once he was sure they were trapped, the Corsair stepped out of his hiding place and walked up to the door. "Yeah, that was just a hologram" he told them, smirking, before calling over the intercom, "It worked, we got them. Well done, you guys".

/

O'Donnell returned the base to Day Mode and everyone reunited at the bridge. As soon as she walked through the door, the Doctor pulled Romana into a kiss, both ignoring the Corsair's catcall. He chuckled and made as if to hug Flavia, only to pull back and rather awkwardly offer her a handshake instead. "You err, you did well" he remarked, as Emily's parents hugged her and O'Donnell cheerfully punched Bennett on the arm.

Clara smiled at the reunion and jokingly remarked, "I'm fine, by the way, in case any of you were worried".

"We're glad you're okay, Clara" Romana smiled, giving her a hug as well, "Now, we need the Doctor to bring an image of the ghosts on the screen".

Her husband headed down to the Faraday Cage. He stood outside the door, staring through at the ghosts, who were repeatedly mouthing a silent phrase. "Cass, are you seeing this?" he asked via intercom.

Back at the bridge, O'Donnell reported, "Sonic glasses Wi-Fi locked in, on screen B2".

Cass peered at the screen, frowning, trying to lip read the ghosts and discern what they were saying. She signed something to Lunn, who explained, "She says she can't see them properly. The glass is too thick and they're too far away".

"Open the door".

"What?" O'Donnell demanded, alarmed.

"Doctor, you can't go in there" Clara protested, "They will kill you!"

"They don't have any weapons or access to any of the controls. They can't hurt me, so open the door".

"He's right" Romana said suddenly, giving O'Donnell a nod to go ahead. With some trepidation, she acquiesced and unlocked the door. Down at the Cage, the Doctor stepped through the open door and closed it behind him. He turned to face the three ghosts; Moran stepped forward and reached a hand out towards the Doctor, right through his chest. The Doctor winced at the uncomfortable, freezing sensation and remarked, "Romana was right, it is cold, isn't it? Take away your weapons and you're not so scary, are you? Is that better, Cass?"

With the ghosts right in front of the glasses, Cass was able to read their lips much more clearly. "She says they're saying the same thing, the same phrase, over and over" Lunn explained, translating for her, "They're saying the dark. The score. No, the sword. The for sale? No, the forsaken. The temple".

"What?"

"Yes, she's sure" Lunn insisted, "The dark, the sword, the forsaken, the temple; just that, over and over".

The Doctor frowned thoughtfully. "Dark, sword, forsaken, temple. What does that mean? What are you telling me, big man?" he asked Moran, who naturally didn't reply. "Bennett! I need maps. I think I just worked out what our friend here is telling us".

/

"They're co-ordinates" the Doctor explained, when he'd returned to the bridge.

"How can they be co-ordinates?" asked Bennett.

"Oh, I see" Romana realised, "They don't mean 'the dark' as in an absence of light, they mean outer space".

"Exactly, so whoever's following the co-ordinates knows they're going to another planet" the Doctor nodded, "The sword?" He handed her an apple, a knobby ball to O'Donnell, a table tennis ball to Emily and a Vector Petroleum place pat to Clara, and got them to hold the items up in a straight diagonal line. "Orion's sword. The sword, the three stars, although one isn't actually a star but the Orion Nebula, hanging down from Orion's belt. But if viewed from back here, the Earth becomes the fourth bit of the sword. So, narrowed it down to a planet now, getting closer" he explained, putting the items on the table.

"Then there's 'the forsaken'. Call it a hunch, but I'd say a flooded, abandoned fake town would qualify as pretty forsaken" remarked the Corsair, "So the ghosts are beaming out a signal, leading someone or something to this location, and every person they kill"-

"Strengthens the signal" Clara worked it out, "Another ghost, another transmitter".

"Which is why they sent for that rescue sub" O'Donnell realised.

"They wanted to trap more people here, to kill and turn into more ghosts, to make the signal stronger" Emily said solemnly.

"But why are they beaming out the coordinates? Is it a distress call?" Lunn inquired on Cass' behalf.

"It could be" the Doctor agreed, "Or a warning. Might even be a call to arms. It could mean, come here, they're vulnerable, help yourself. Wait a minute, though. Wait a minute. Do you know what this means? It means that they're not a natural phenomenon. It means that someone is deliberately getting people killed, hijacking their souls and turning them into transmitters" he realised. He didn't seem too happy with the notion…none of them did.

"But what do the coordinates lead to, though?" O'Donnell wondered, "To us? To the ghosts? What?"

"Ah! What the coordinates are for. That is part of the answer to the other question you're all thinking" the Doctor explained, only to be met with blank stares from the humans. "Really? Come on, none of you?"

"Well, _we_ know" the Corsair admitted, "But we're giving them a chance to figure it out for themselves".

"Then why aren't they?" the Doctor grumbled, "Surely just being around us would make you all cleverer by osmosis. What is the other question?"

Cass began to sign something, and Lunn quickly translated, "The temple. The fourth part of the directions. What's the temple?"

"Finally; it's like pulling teeth". The Doctor spread out an old aerial map on the table. "This is the flooded military town. Shops, houses, town square, and this" he explained, one long finger tapping an L-shaped building.

Clara peered at it and realised it looked like… "A church?"

"Whatever the coordinates are for, it's in that church. Find that and you're a hop, skip and a jump to stopping them".

"Wait, you're not suggesting that?" Bennett asked incredulously. When the Time Quintet and Clara looked at him as if to say, 'well, obviously', he nervously protested, "But we're safe now. The ghosts are in the cage. We can get out of here".

"Aw, come on Bennett. You can help us save the day!" Emily grinned enthusiastically.

"No one has to stay" the Doctor acknowledged, "In fact, I would prefer it if you lot went. You'll all get in the way and ask ridiculous questions. But, you know", he gestured to Cass, Lunn and O'Donnell, "you have chosen to protect and serve. You have given yourself to science and the pursuit of knowledge" he reminded Bennett, "None of you have chosen anonymous or selfish lives. Go, and a part of you will always wonder, what would have happened if I'd stayed? How could I have helped? What would I have learned? I want you to go. But you should know what it is that you're leaving".

The crew looked at one another…Cass signed something, and Lunn explained, "Cass says we should go, but everything that happens here is her responsibility now, so she's going to stay. So I, err, guess I should too".

"Well, count me in" O'Donnell smiled, "Who wants to live forever, anyway?"

"Sorry, err, have you gone insane?" Bennett demanded, "We can go home" he told her; she just shrugged one shoulder and grinned excitedly.

Romana put a hand on the young man's shoulders and told him, "We know you're worried, but don't be. Like you said, the ghosts are trapped".

"How can they be ghosts, though?" he asked, half-rhetorically. When no answer was forthcoming, he sighed and remarked, "Well, at least if I die, you know I really will come back and haunt you all".

/

A little while later, Bennett was piloting their drone submarine via virtual reality goggles and remote controls on his fingers. "Okay, the sub is approaching the town square. Which way is the church?"

"North-north-west, one hundred and fifty yards" O'Donnell described, looking at the old map, "That's it. Starboard two degrees".

"What are we looking for, exactly?"

"Something that has the power to raise the dead and turn them into transmitters; I expect we'll know it when we see it" the Doctor remarked drily.

"Wait, I've found the church".

"Can you – I mean the sub, can it go inside?" asked Flavia.

"Yeah, hang on…" Bennett moved the drone sub forward, and the camera caught a large white casket lying amongst the debris of the church grounds.

"Wait, what's that? Move closer" the Doctor instructed. When he'd gotten a good look at it, he ordered Cass…and then asked politely, at Romana's behest, to have it brought aboard for further investigation. With a bit of careful manoeuvring by Bennett, which earned him a cheerful clap on the shoulder from O'Donnell, they managed to move it into the main hangar.

"It's the suspended-animation chamber from the spaceship" the Doctor explained, as they stood looking at the large white box.

"So the pilot could be in there" guessed Clara.

"There's something inside there" he agreed, "But it's deadlock sealed. We can't open it".

"Y'know, I keep getting the weird feeling that it's not the pilot in there…but who else could it be?" the Corsair wondered.

"Mm-hm. More questions" the Doctor sighed, frustrated, "Everything we solve, just leads to more questions".

"Let's go back to the beginning" Romana suggested, "When we arrived, we found the ghosts but they didn't attack us immediately. They led us here, to the spaceship…and _then_ they tried to kill us".

The Doctor walked inside the spaceship and peered at the markings carved into the side. "Not translated by the TARDIS" he muttered, "Why?" He wiped off his sonic glasses and put them on, looking at the markings once more. The glasses whirred, scanning; he took them off and emerged from the spaceship, walking up to Cass. "Lunn, translate for me" he instructed, before addressing Cass directly. "When we're not around, you're the smartest person in the room. So, tell me, what's weird about this?"

"What isn't?" the Corsair quipped; Flavia shushed him with a glare.

"I know that it's all bonkers but, you know, when you think about it, one thing keeps snagging in your mind. What is it?" he asked her, ignoring the Corsair.

Cass replied, via Lunn, "The markings on the inside of the spaceship".

"The markings on the inside of the spaceship" he repeated, "Yes! Why?"

"I don't think they're just words".

"They're not. They're magnets".

"Magnets?" asked Bennett, "How?"

"Well, a localised and manufactured electromagnetic field, to be precise. The dark. The sword. The forsaken. The temple. When we heard the coordinates for the first time, did anyone expect them not to be that?" he asked them…almost all of them realised that no, they hadn't been that surprised. "No, exactly" the Doctor nodded, "Me neither. It's like we already knew, somehow. Like the words were already in us".

"So that writing _is_ the co-ordinates?" O'Donnell asked, trying to understand.

"Everything we see or experience shapes us in some way" the Doctor explained, "But these words actually rewrite the synaptic connections in your brain. They literally change the way you are wired. Clara, why don't I have a radio in the TARDIS?"

She blinked, and innocently replied, "You took it apart and used the pieces to make a clockwork squirrel".

A few of them stifled sniggers. The Doctor pointedly ignored this and continued, " _And_ because whatever song I heard first thing in the morning, I was stuck with. Two weeks of Mysterious Girl by Peter Andre. I was begging for the brush of Death's merciful hand" he grumbled, a touch melodramatically. More snickers were muffled behind hands. "Don't you see? These words are an earworm. A song you can't stop humming, even after you die".

"Okay, so, the spaceship lands here" Clara decided to sum everything up, "The pilot leaves the writing on the wall so whoever sees it, when they die, they become a beacon of the coordinates, while he slash she slash it snoozes in the suspended-animation chamber".

"Waiting for his slash her slash its mates to pick the message up" the Doctor agreed, "My God. Every time I think it couldn't get more extraordinary, it surprises me. It's impossible. I hate it. It's evil. It's astonishing. I want to kiss it to death".

"Make your mind up, dearest" Romana teased with a grin; moments later, an alarm blared loudly, and everyone looked up in surprise.

"Attention, all crew" the computer intoned smoothly, "Evacuate base immediately. Emergency protocols have been initiated. This safety message was brought to you by Vector Petroleum. Fuel for our futures"- as the computer droned on, O'Donnell rushed over to a computer embedded on the wall. To her horror, the warning on the screen read 'Flooding Initiated. Reactor Malfunction. Emergency Cooling'.

"Oh no" she gasped, "The ghosts tampering with the day-night settings caused a computer malfunction. Its first priority is to keep the reactor cool, so it's opening the hull doors and it's flooding the base".

"Cass says, close the internal flood doors" Lunn instructed, "That'll contain the water in the central corridor".

"The TARDIS is on the other side of the base" Flavia realised, eyes wide, "We need to get back there, now!"

"Okay, we've got thirty seconds before the flood door closes" O'Donnell warned, even as they were sprinting out of the hangar.

/

"Come on!" Clara called to Lunn, who was lagging behind; the Doctor was holding Romana's hand, and the two of them made it across the corridor – so did Bennett and O'Donnell but then…

"Corsair!" Flavia screamed in alarm, as the Time Lord in question dived and scrambled beneath the closing doors. On the other side, he switched on the intercom and said, "Sorry, V, didn't mean to scare you. Sit tight, you lot. We'll come back and get you".

"We can't go straight back, the TARDIS won't go near the ghosts" the Doctor warned.

"What else are we supposed to do?"

"We go back in time" Romana answered, "To when the spaceship landed. If we can understand why this is happening, we can stop them killing anyone else. Look out for each other, all of you, and we'll be back as soon as we can" she told the ones they were leaving behind. She didn't want to leave Emily and Clara, but the Doctor was right, the TARDIS would resist landing near the ghosts and they couldn't risk the TARDIS dematerialising, trapping all of them there.

"Wait, you're going to go back in time?" Bennett asked as they hurried through the corridors, "How do you do that?"

"Extremely well" the Doctor quipped. O'Donnell was struggling not to beam in excitement. _Stay focused, stay calm, stay professional. Stay focused, stay calm, stay professional…_ she told herself over and over as they neared the TARDIS.

/

Cass took charge and led everyone back to the mess hall, to await the return of the others. "You're sure they're not going to hurt us?" Lunn asked nervously, speaking of the ghosts.

"They can't get out of the Faraday Cage" Clara reassured him.

"And my parents will come back for us, so will the Corsair. They won't abandon us" Emily pointed out, sitting on the table and swinging her legs. A look from Flavia, and from Cass made her grin sheepishly and jump off again.

Flavia agreed, "Emily's right; the Corsair is many things, but distrustful, thankfully, isn't one of them. Until then, we just need to be patient and vigilant".

"Are you sure they know what they're doing?" asked Lunn.

"Guys, look, this is how we roll" Clara said confidently, "They're going to go away, come back and we'll have to listen to the Doctor go on and on about how he… did it". She stepped towards the windows, noticing a ghostly figure approaching the Drum from outside, in the flooded village. The other four came to have a closer look as well.

"Is it Moran or Pritchard or the mole guy?" Lunn asked, frowning in bewilderment, "How, how did they get out?"

"No, I…I think it's a different one" replied Flavia, "A different ghost".

"What does that mean?"

"It means something happened in the past, someone else must have… _oh no_ ".

"Oh, no, no, no, no" Clara shook her head, horrified, as the figure stopped just outside the window, its blank eyes staring through the glass…the short curled hair, the long coat, the angular face were unmistakable. _It can't be, no, no it can't be, not him!_

Emily stared at the ghost in horror, mouth open, a few tiny tears prickling the corners of her eyes. "Dad…" she whimpered, shaken. Clara reached for her hand and held it tight. _I didn't even get to say goodbye…_


	11. Before the Flood Pt 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: I've been meaning to ask, do you guys like me adding these little bridges between scenes and episodes? I think it helps the chapter flow and makes it feel a bit more organic, but I was hoping to get some feedback on whether it's working. Also, sorry if the Beethoven bit is clunky, but I couldn't think of how to work it into the actual story and keep the flow going. Suggestions welcome, I can edit if necessary. Sorry this chapter took so long, again, I've been down near Leicester for a week practising my driving ;)

Before the Flood – Part One

"It can't be…" Emily murmured, staring through the glass at the 'ghost' of her father. Clara and Flavia looked at her with pity, thinking she was in understandable denial. "Oh, Emily, I'm so sorry" Flavia began, but Emily shook her head.

"No, I mean it really can't be him" she insisted, her shaking voice growing stronger and more confident. "Dad wouldn't just _die,_ it would take way more to get the best of him. My mum would never let him be killed…no, this is a trick. I don't know who's making it, but that is _not_ my father. I know it isn't".

/

It turned out that Bennett didn't take well to time travel; when the TARDIS dematerialised and the console room had lurched, he clapped a hand to his mouth and rushed off down the corridor in search of a bathroom. O'Donnell sighed, a bit embarrassed, and quickly changed the subject. "So, we're going back in time to stop the ghosts, yeah? Can't wait" she grinned excitedly, "But um…if the ghosts don't attack us in the Drum, then…won't that cause a paradox?"

"Yeah, which is why we're not stopping the ghosts" the Corsair replied, "At least not the way you're thinking. We can't stop Moran or Pritchard…or whoever the other guy is…from dying. Sorry".

"No, I get it. Um, what sort of paradox _would_ it cause, if we did?"

"Excellent question" the Doctor announced suddenly, stepping into O'Donnell's field of view and making her jump. "So there's this man. He has a time machine. Up and down history he goes, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip, getting into scrapes" he explained, walking up the steps to the gallery that lined the console room as he talked. "Another thing he has is a passion for the works of Ludwig van Beethoven" he continued, holding up a vinyl LP of _Beethoven's 5th._

"And one day he thinks, what's the point of having a time machine if you don't get to meet your heroes? So off he goes to eighteenth century Germany. But he can't find Beethoven anywhere. No one's heard of him, not even his family have any idea who the time traveller is talking about"; as he talked, the Doctor placed the LP down and picked up a bust of Beethoven.

"Beethoven literally doesn't exist. This didn't happen, by the way. I've met Beethoven. Nice chap. Very intense. Loved an arm-wrestle, just ask the Corsair. No, this is called the Bootstrap Paradox. Google it" he instructed, "The time traveller panics", he put the bust down on a pile of sheet music, "He can't bear the thought of a world without the music of Beethoven.

"Luckily he'd brought all of his Beethoven sheet music for Ludwig to sign. So he copies out all the concertos, and the symphonies and he gets them published. He becomes Beethoven. And history continues with barely a feather ruffled. But my question is this. Who put those notes and phrases together? Who really composed Beethoven's Fifth?" he asked O'Donnell. She blinked and tried to figure it out…she still didn't understand what changing the past would do to the future, but who cares, the _Doctor_ was explaining the bootstrap paradox! To _her_!

The TARDIS landed on a railway platform, and four of the five emerged from the time machine. "Where's Bennett?" the Doctor demanded, "We need to get going".

"Oh, he's still throwing up" O'Donnell admitted, "One small step for man, one giant _bleaurgh_ " she paraphrased jokingly.

"Not everyone takes well to the TARDIS, especially the first time" Romana acknowledged sympathetically.

"Somehow I doubt that Rose or Martha or Amy lost their breakfast on their first trip".

"You seem to know an awful lot about me" the Doctor noted. He didn't dislike O'Donnell, she was nice in an 'eager to please' sort of way, but for centuries he'd been trying to keep a low profile and _not_ have people keep tabs on him and his family all the time, except perhaps UNIT.

"I used to be in military intelligence" she explained, "I was demoted for dangling a colleague out of a window".

"In anger?"

"Is there another way to dangle someone out a window?"

The Corsair chuckled and remarked, "You know, I really like you".

"Really?!...I mean, thanks…what year is this?"

The Doctor licked his finger and held it up, and answered "1980".

"So, pre-Harold Saxon. Pre-the Minister of War. Pre-the moon exploding and a big bat coming out" O'Donnell commented. Romana wondered how many reports she'd read about their adventures…

"Minister of War?"

"Yeah…"

"No, never mind. I expect we'll find out soon enough".

Just then, Bennett stepped out of the TARDIS, still looking a bit peaked but less likely to be sick. "Sorry about that" he said apologetically, "Had a prawn sandwich, might have been off".

"Don't worry about it, Bennett, the TARDIS can be…tricky to get used to" Romana admitted, it was for some humans at least, "Now then, shall we get going?"

"Just one sec, I've got something in my boot" said O'Donnell, resting a hand on Bennett's shoulder to keep her balance, "You three go ahead".

So Romana, the Doctor and the Corsair walked away; the moment they were out of sight, O'Donnell beamed and began hopping up and down in excitement. "It's bigger on the inside, it's bigger on the inside, it's bigger on the inside. How can it be bigger on the inside, Bennett?" she asked, grinning hysterically…then she cleared her throat and adopted a serious expression. "Okay, let's roll".

The two of them caught up with the other two, walking past shop fronts, a telephone box and a poster of Stalin. Bennett noticed the poster and all the Cyrillic writing and inquired, "Why have we gone to Russia?"

"It's still Scotland, mate" replied the Corsair, "We were very careful to only travel in time and not space…well, Romana and I were being careful, _someone_ was showing off".

"I was answering O'Donnell's question" the Doctor defended, even though he had actually confused her more, "Anyway, this is the town before it flooded. The TARDIS has brought us to when the spaceship first touched down. But here and now, it's the height of the Cold War. The military were being trained for offensives on Soviet soil" he explained to Bennett.

They found the spaceship parked in front of the church, its rear ramp lowered. Naturally they went inside, finding the stasis chamber still in place and a shrouded corpse lying on a raised platform. "Oh, is that the pilot?" asked O'Donnell, eyeing the wrapped figure, "My God, look at the size of it".

"No, that's the body" the Doctor corrected, as the Corsair crouched down and opened the floor hatch, seeing that both power cells were present.

"What do you mean, the body?"

"This isn't just any spaceship. It's a hearse".

"It probably arrived quite recently" the Corsair remarked, "Given that the stasis chamber and power cells are still here".

"And there are no markings on the wall" O'Donnell noted.

"Yet" the Doctor said ominously. Romana sighed in mild exasperation and asked, "Did you really need to say that, dear?"

As they emerged from the spaceship, a Tivolian hurried to meet them, dressed in Victorian-esque clothes and waving a white handkerchief in a typical gesture of surrender. "Greetings!" he said cheerfully.

"It's him, that's the ghost from the Drum" O'Donnell realised. The Tivolian walked right up to the Doctor, squinting at him curiously, and then at the others. "Remarkable; oh, and humans too" he noted, which made Romana and the Corsair glance at one another. How did he know they were Time Lords?

"Albar Prentis, Funeral Director" the Tivolian introduced himself, handing out business cards to them all. O'Donnell smirked in amusement at the slogan ' _May the remorse be with you'_ , Bennett looked at his in bewilderment, and the three Time Lords just tossed theirs away.

"You're from Tivoli, aren't you?" asked Bennett, trying to sound knowledgeable and confident in front of O'Donnell…or really, just in general, it wasn't like he wanted to impress her or anything…that wasn't going well, with him throwing up earlier.

"The most invaded planet in the galaxy!" Prentis agreed, "Our capital city has a sign saying, if you occupied us, you'd be home by now" he said, completely serious.

"Yes, we've had dealings with your lot before" the Doctor commented, gesturing to his fellow pilots, "Can't say we're fans, even if it was the best adventure I've ever been on".

 _Best adventure?_ Romana asked quizzically, then added, _Oh, because we…but that was_ after _the adventure, Theta._

 _If it weren't for that adventure I wouldn't have known you loved me or realised that I loved you, so yes, best adventure._

"No, we do tend to antagonise" Prentis chuckled, oblivious to the private conversation. An odd clattering noise caused O'Donnell to look briefly over to some kind of storage area, but she didn't see anything untoward, so she ignored it.

"What are you doing on Earth, exactly?" Romana asked Prentis, trying to get them back on topic.

"Ah, yes, of course" he nodded, hurrying up the ramp to the shrouded body, "This is the Fisher King. He and his armies invaded Tivoli and enslaved us for ten glorious years! Until we were liberated by the Arcateenians" he sighed, and then perked up, "But, thank the Gods, soon we'd irritated them so much, they enslaved us, too!" he laughed, as if it were the greatest thing to ever occur.

"My first proper alien, and he's an idiot" Bennett muttered. Prentis either didn't hear him, or decided to ignore him.

"And now, in accordance with Arcateenian custom, I've come to bury him on a barren, savage outpost".

"You mean the town?" inquired O'Donnell.

The Corsair cleared his throat and corrected, "Actually, he probably means the planet".

Prentis came back down the ramp and up to the Doctor, invading his personal space somewhat. "Although, at the risk of starting a bidding war, _you_ could enslave me" he suggested conspiratorially, "In the ship I have directions to my planet and a selection of items that you can oppress me with".

"Listen, we've come from the future" the Doctor explained, "You're about to send some sort of signal. How do you do it? Is it a special pen?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The technology you use. The thing that wrenches the soul out of the body and makes it repeat your coordinates for eternity. Give it to me now, I'm going to take the batteries out".

"We don't have anything like that!" Prentis shook his head, giggling in a rather irritating way. He gestured at the spaceship and explained, "Even this belongs to the glorious Arcateenians".

"Wait…but if _he's_ not creating the ghosts, then…who is?" the Corsair wondered. They looked up at the mummified corpse on the slab…

"Back to the TARDIS" the Doctor said decisively, "We'll see how the others are holding up".

/

Meanwhile, in the not so distant future, a small group of five were waiting and watching in the mess hall. Cass was sitting right in view of the ghost Doctor, frowning slightly in concentration as she read his lips, having noticed something wasn't quite right there. Emily sat nearby, also looking at the ghost, scanning it for any clue as to it's true origin. She refused to believe that her father would have died completely, that her mother and the Corsair would let him put himself in that much danger.

Clara and Flavia sat apart, talking in hushed tones. "Do you think she's right?" asked Clara, "Emily, I mean. About the ghost…" she couldn't bring herself to say 'ghost-Doctor', "Not being real".

"I…I honestly don't know, Clara" Flavia shook her head helplessly, "Emily is certainly taking after her father as far as detective skills go, and her reasoning is sound, but…"

"But if she's wrong, she'll be devastated" Clara finished, frowning sadly, "We all would…"

Lunn approached Emily hesitantly, sliding into the seat next to her. "You've been here before" he began, "In situations like this before".

"You mean something impersonating my dad? Yeah, it happens, usually we know what's causing it though".

"Well, err, I meant…you've had to deal with the possibility of losing someone close to you…I guess what I'm asking is, what I should say to you" he explained awkwardly.

"You can say that you believe me, that I'm right about this not being a ghost like the others" she replied. Lunn hesitated, and she began to frown…but before either of them could say anything, Cass suddenly slapped the back of her chair, causing them all to jump. Lunn realised she wanted their attention and made to translate her sign language.

"Cass thinks the Doctor's saying something different to the others. He's saying 'Moran, Pritchard, Apprentice – no, Prentis, Corsair, O'Donnell, Clara, Emily, Bennett, Cass, Flavia, Romana, Doctor…It's a list of all our names and when he finishes, he just goes back to the beginning again, over and over. That's it".

"Who's Prentis?" Clara wondered.

"The Tivolian" Emily answered confidently.

"How do you know?"

"He's the only one who's name we didn't know" she shrugged, "But don't you see? If it was like all the other ghosts, it would be saying the same four words as they are, but it's not; which means it's even more likely to be a trick!"

"Yes, but, who's tricking us? And why?" asked Flavia.

Emily faltered. "I haven't quite worked that part out yet…"

Suddenly, Clara's mobile began ringing. "It's the Doctor" she said when she'd checked the caller ID.

"He's alive?" asked Lunn.

"Of course" Emily insisted with stubborn confidence.

 _For the moment_ Clara thought, but she didn't say it aloud. Whilst Lunn signed the good news to Cass, she answered the video call and immediately inquired, "Doctor? Doctor, are you alright?"

"Yeah, fine" he replied casually, "So listen, the spaceship, it's a hearse…"

/

"Clara, is something wrong?" Romana asked in concern, noticing small tears in the corner of Clara's eyes. They were in the TARDIS; the Doctor had linked the phone to the console scanner so they could see Clara, and she did not look happy.

"Another ghost has appeared" she told them.

"What?" the Doctor frowned, "Who? Has someone died?"

"Doctor…" Clara hesitated, she didn't know how to tell them… "It's you" she admitted sadly. Romana's eyes widened in worry, the Corsair frowned…the Doctor simply stared solemnly at the screen, digesting this…unfortunate revelation.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah…well. Currently…"

"What does it mean?" asked Clara, propping the phone up on a mug of half eaten soup.

"It means I die" he answered solemnly. Romana looked at him in alarm; the finality in his voice scared her, surely he wasn't giving up so easily…?

"You're just a barrel of laughs today, aren't you?" the Corsair snarked.

Then Emily came into the frame beside Clara, and declared "No, it doesn't. I figured it out, the ghost isn't you! I mean, it is, but…You wouldn't just die like that, you'd regenerate, and it's not even saying the same thing as the other ghosts, it just keeps repeating our names. It's okay, dad, you don't die!" she smiled confidently, hopefully.

Her father's next words pulled the floor out from underneath her. "Emily…I'm not invincible, you know. Whatever created those ghosts is powerful, who's to say it isn't powerful enough to kill a Time Lord?"

"Who's to say it is? Maybe it's trying to trick you into a trap, dad. Don't be stupid; mum, tell dad he's being stupid".

"I think he heard you".

"Doctor…Emily might have a point. You can change this; you can alter the sequence of events so…" Clara trailed off,

"This isn't a potential future" the Doctor interrupted, "This is the future now. It's already happened. The proof is right there in front of you. I have to die".

"You can't…" Romana shook her head, "Doctor, what if Emily's right? This could be a trap, a misdirection…and besides, time can be rewritten, isn't that what you always say? It's not too late to stop this ever happening".

He smiled sadly and reached out to take her hand, running his thumb over her knuckles. "Romana, Emily…it's already happened. Once you know your own future, it's set in stone and we can't change it. Even the tiniest change, the ramifications could be catastrophic. It could spread carnage and chaos across the universe like ripples on a pond…"

"Drama queen, much?" the Corsair muttered.

"Oh, well, I've had a good innings. This regeneration, it's a bit of a clerical error anyway" he remarked to O'Donnell, before turning to Romana and saying soberly, "I've got to go sometime".

"No…no, you don't" she shook her head, tears springing hot and sharp to the corners of her eyes, _Theta, you can't leave me, not now. I thought I'd almost lost our daughter, don't tell me I have to lose you as well._

"Dad, you can't!" Emily protested, shaking her head in stubborn disbelief.

"Clara, give the phone to Emily. I need to talk to my wife and daughter…in private" the Doctor added pointedly. The Corsair got the hint and ushered Bennett and O'Donnell away, down the steps to the lower level of the TARDIS console.

"C'mon, you two, I'll show you the thermo-couplings…"

Clara gave Emily a supportive squeeze and left her with the phone. "Why can't you just believe me?" she demanded, "I'm not trying to 'cope', I _know_ something doesn't add up here!"

"Emeya, I'm not saying I don't believe you" the Doctor told her calmly, "There's a possibility this ghost is a trick…but there's also the very real possibility that it _isn't._ We all have to face death eventually, be it ours or someone else's".

"So you're saying if it turns out to really be your ghost, you're not even going to _try_ to escape?" asked Romana, "You want to abandon all of us?"

"Of course not, but whatever happens, a ghost version of me comes into existence…and if that's because I die, then it's because I die. I can't change that, there are rules, remember?"

"Dad, you never cared about rules. When I was little, you always said 'rules are more like suggestions'. Who cares if it's a paradox?" Emily sniffled a bit, and admitted in a small voice, "Dad…I still need you".

"So do I" murmured Romana, squeezing his hand, the long fingers still grasping hers. "What would we do without you? This isn't fair, and if the Laws of Time want to take you, they'll have me to answer to. Doctor, if you love us, you will fight this. _We_ will fight this" she insisted, her eyes shining with determination and unshed tears.

 _Can we, though? Time can't always be rewritten…but, if Emily is right, if my ghost is different, then maybe…_ he wondered, and pondered, and finally reminded them, "We can't save Moran or Pritchard". There were some things they really couldn't change…still, what was the harm in finding out what they could?

"No, but if we figure out what's going on, we can save everyone else. Including you, my love" Romana smiled gently.

In spite of everything, the Doctor found himself smiling back. "Okay" he nodded, agreeing to try and, if not break the Laws of Time, at least bend them a little.

Emily grinned, excited and relieved. "Great!" she cheered quietly, "But don't start kissing, please. I feel traumatised enough".

"Don't be cheeky, young lady, or else I'll come back and haunt you on purpose" the Doctor warned her, before adding, "We have to be careful though; the future has already happened. We've met the undertaker and he's still alive".

/

At this moment, Prentis was walking up into the spaceship, making notes in a small book as he went. The planet appeared to be a marvellously suitable location to bury the Fisher King…if it weren't for the fact that, as Prentis discovered when he looked up, the body was missing. The cowardly Tivolian gasped in alarm, sniffed the air with his flat little nose…he turned and noticed something peculiar, four symbols carved into the side of the spaceship. As he puzzled over the symbols and the disappearing corpse, Prentis didn't notice a large shadow looming in the entrance of the craft…until it was too late.

/

Emily switched the phone to speaker mode whilst Romana called the Corsair, Bennett and O'Donnell back to the scanner. "So, ghost me. You've got a better view than me. How do I look? Any signs of trauma, any scars? Any clues as to how I might die? If ghost me is, indeed, actually me, but dead".

"Yeah, I get it" Clara sighed, "Um, no, nothing. You're the same as all the other ghosts with the weird black eyes and - No. No, wait. Your coat, it's torn. The right shoulder" she explained, turning the phone around so they could see the ghost Doctor standing outside in the water.

"Did you say I'm not saying the same words as the others?"

"No, you're saying a list of names. Our names, mainly; Moran, Pritchard, Prentis, Corsair, O'Donnell, Clara, Emily, Bennett, Cass, Flavia, Romana, Doctor…Emily says Prentis is the mole faced guy".

"That's him" the Doctor agreed. Suddenly, ghost-Doctor stepped forward through the glass, causing Clara to drop the phone onto the table in surprise.

"What's the matter, Clara, what's happening?"

"You've…I mean, it moved inside. It's inside here now…do we call it 'it' or 'you'?"

"I hardly think it matters. What am I doing?"

"Err, nothing. You're just…you're just standing there".

"I'm not trying to kill you? Why am I not trying to kill you?"

"Maybe it's a decoy" Emily theorised, "Or a ho"-

"No, wait, you're moving, going toward the control panel" Clara interrupted. They watched as the ghost-Doctor made his way over to the control panel, accessed the controls for the Faraday Cage...

"I think you spoke too soon, Doctor" Flavia remarked, swallowing, "Your…your ghost, just opened the Faraday Cage. He's freed the other ghosts".

"I need to talk to me now" the Doctor insisted over the phone.

"Didn't you hear her?" Clara demanded, "You opened the Faraday cage. The other ghosts are outside. Shouldn't we be hiding?"

"In a minute, I need to talk to ghost me".

So Clara placed her phone, balanced on its longer edge, on a cabinet in view of the ghost-Doctor. "Okay, Doctor, you're on".

"Doctor" he greeted his ghost pleasantly, "Such an honour. I've always been a huge admirer. This is really a delight. Finally someone worth talking to…ah, except you, dear" he added to Romana. The Corsair just rolled his eyes.

"Focus, dear".

"Yes, right" he nodded, before addressing his ghost once more. "So firstly, why are you here?"

Rather than reply…Cass was ready to read his answer…the ghost-Doctor turned away from the camera phone.

"What's going on?" asked O'Donnell, wanting to ask the right questions and really get involved, help solve the mystery of the ghosts. She really hoped Emily was right, that this ghost wasn't really the Doctor…O'Donnell, for one, was starting to be convinced.

"It stopped moving, the ghost" reported Emily, "Oh, wait, never mind".

Cass suddenly signed something out; Lunn made to translate but Flavia beat him to it. "Cass says his words are different. He's saying something else now, he's saying…"

"What?" Clara, the Doctor and Lunn asked simultaneously.

"He's saying, 'the chamber will open tonight'" Flavia translated, before asking, "What in the name of Omega does that mean?"

"Never mind that for now" the Corsair insisted, "Listen, now that the ghosts are out of the Faraday Cage, you all need to get in there. They won't be able to get to you then".

"Oh, there's a problem…" the Doctor realised.

"Problem?" Clara frowned, "What problem? Oh, really? Because everything else is going so smoothly" she said sarcastically.

"The phone signal won't be able to get through. What you'll have to do, Clara, put the phone outside, and you can watch it through the little round porthole. And when you see it ringing, if it's safe to do so, go out and answer it".

"Okay" she agreed, "How long are you going to"-

"Clara, listen to me" the Doctor interrupted firmly, "Don't let that phone out of your sight. I need to be able to reach you, I need to know everything my ghost does. Do you understand? We'll come back for all of you. I swear" he promised. Clara nodded resolutely, and then hung up. The five of them grabbed a few rations and ran out of the room, intending to make their way to the Cage…and hopefully, avoid the ghosts on the way.

/

Back in the TARDIS, when the signal was lost, the screen flickered to black. "Come on" the Doctor beckoned, "Oh, wait a minute. Not you, O'Donnell" he said, stopping her at the doorway.

"Why not?" she demanded, she was perfectly capable, thank you very much!

"Someone needs to stay and mind the shop" the Doctor explained, "What if Clara calls?"

"The last bloke that said something like that to me got dangled out of a window".

"Heh, you've got pluck" the Corsair grinned, "Stick with me, I'll look out for you".

"Err- maybe the Doctor's right" Bennett suggested quickly, "Maybe it's best if you stay here".

"Hey, if Romana is going, then so am I. Seriously, have you even met me?" she asked rhetorically, stepping between the Doctor and Bennett and exiting the TARDIS. The Corsair clapped Bennett on the shoulder and remarked with a wink, "Don't worry, I'll keep her out of trouble for you".

 _That's sort of what I'm afraid of_ Bennett thought jealously, as he walked out of the TARDIS after the Corsair, followed by the Doctor and Romana. They returned to the spaceship, and as they neared, they saw a body on the slab that clearly wasn't the Fisher King.

They ran up to the spaceship. "Prentis…Prentis!" the Doctor checked for a pulse, and found none.

"Guess that dead body wasn't so dead after all" O'Donnell remarked.

"And now we've got the writing" Bennett noticed.

"The Fisher King did it himself" the Doctor realised, "The future is still coming".

"Yes, but which one?" Romana wondered.

"Let's go and check out the church" the Corsair suggested.

When they arrived, they found marks in the soil outside. "He's taken the suspended animation chamber to the church".

"Way to state the obvious, there, Doc. Aren't those things usually moved with anti-gravity controls?" the Corsair inquired, moments before a loud roar echoed through the fake Russian town.

"What was that?" O'Donnell asked in alarm.

"Something large and dangerous…" answered Romana, "Let's get back to the TARDIS, now!"

Once again they ran, but another roar ahead of them, and closer, forced them to duck into a narrow passageway.

"It's cut us off" the Doctor warned, his hand gripping Romana's tightly. Whatever happened, he wouldn't let _her_ be harmed…of course, she'd want him to protect everyone else as well, and he would.

"Let's split up" O'Donnell abruptly proposed, "Go on, Bennett" she said, ushering him towards the Doctor whilst she turned and ran in the opposite direction. The Corsair followed her; Bennett tried to protest this arrangement, but Romana pulled him away before he could get the words out. He hid with her and the Doctor in a fake bathroom, jamming the door handle with a chair…O'Donnell and the Corsair crouched beside the wall of a fake living room.

Just as Romana described, something large and undoubtedly dangerous stomped its way through the half hollow, fake house, roaring as it went. It passed the broken window of the bathroom and approached the living room…its footsteps began to fade, and O'Donnell thought that perhaps it had given up and left. She made to stand up, but the Corsair gripped her arm and shook his head, motioning for her to stay put. With great care, he rose to his feet and moved up to the door, taking out his blaster. He stepped out into the corridor, weapon at the ready, and turned…

Bennett heard a loud, furious roar and the sound of shots being fired from the direction O'Donnell and the Corsair had gone in…without thinking, he pulled the chair away from the door and rushed out, ignoring the Doctor's cries of, "No, Bennett, wait!"

There was a sudden thud and a pained yell rang out; the Doctor and Romana looked at one another in alarm, and rushed out after Bennett. When they reached O'Donnell, she was trying to rouse the Corsair. "I think it shoved him into the wall" she explained as the Doctor knelt down, pulling out his sonic sunglasses. He observed the Corsair through them and announced, "He's got a concussion, bit of bleeding at the left temple…The Fisher King must have attacked and then gone off to lick his own wounds. It's a good thing we all have thick skulls, otherwise he might have died. If the blow had been any harder…"

"He would have died, wouldn't he?" Bennett finished, "And…and so would you" he said to O'Donnell, "Because I just realised; Moran, Pritchard, Prentis…I was starting to think it was the order everyone was going to die in, but if you and he survived, then…did the future change?"

"Possibly…" the Doctor said slowly, "Or perhaps the list of names was simply random".

"Either way, I'm grateful" Bennett sighed; he couldn't believe he'd felt jealous of the Corsair when all the man was trying to do was protect his friend for him; no, not friend, O'Donnell was not just a friend to him.

"Why, were you worried about me?" O'Donnell laughed…she soon sobered up when she noticed Bennett's serious expression.

"Yes, I was" he nodded, "Alice, if you'd died…I don't know what I'd have…I mean, you never listen to anyone, it drives me mad, and I wish you hadn't come…" 

"I wanted to keep an eye on you, make sure _you_ didn't die. Mason…what are you saying?"

"I…I'm saying…I was worried because…I love you, Alice".


	12. Before the Flood Pt 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

Before the Flood – Chapter Two

Cass, Lunn, Flavia, Emily and Clara stood in the Faraday Cage, with Clara's phone sitting outside on a ledge. She stood watching it, waiting for the Doctor or Romana to call. They hadn't seen any sign of the ghosts…until ghost-Pritchard suddenly side stepped out of the wall into her field of view, startling her. "What's wrong?" asked Flavia, noticing Clara jump back from the porthole.

Ghost-Pritchard turned towards the phone, his other hand gripping a crowbar, and reached out… "Oh, no" Clara shook her head, "No, no, no, no, don't you dare. Don't you dare" she demanded, but they could only watch helplessly as he picked up the phone and walked away down the corridor. "That's not good" Emily stated bluntly.

"Wait – Emily, don't you have a mobile? We can use that!" Clara realised, as she looked at Emily expectantly. The young Time Lady smiled in relief and pulled out her own mobile, the one she used to keep in touch with Liam, Joshua and Maria. By now her childhood friends were all in their mid to late thirties; Liam and Josh had risen up the ranks of UNIT, from privates to officers, and both were married, with young sons. Maria was a marine biologist at the Institute of Marine Sciences, and the fiancé – by now probably wife – to a very nice man named George.

They checked that the coast was clear, and then Clara quickly hurried out and placed the phone carefully on the ledge, in view of the porthole. Ten minutes later, ghost-Moran appeared, wielding a drill of all things, and stole that phone as well. Emily summed it up succinctly. "That's _really_ not good".

/

Meanwhile, oblivious to the plight of those they'd left behind, the Doctor was ushering the other two Drum crewmembers back to the TARDIS. He'd realised the moment that Bennett had revealed his feelings for O'Donnell, that she was either going to kiss him, or try to talk to him. Either way they didn't have time, not with the Fisher King still lurking about, so he'd grabbed them by the collars and hauled them off, instructing his lovely wife to help a now conscious but dazed Corsair along after them.

"Big day for you two" he remarked, trying to distract them, "Time travel, twice!"

"Whoa, really?" asked Bennett, sounding more eager than he actually was, "When are we going to?"

"Off the map, out of the rule book" the Doctor replied cryptically. "What if I didn't die? What if I refuse?"

"That's the spirit!" the Corsair cheered, "…Whichever one of you said that".

"Little help, dear" Romana said pointedly; she was trying to support the Corsair and he wasn't exactly _light._ The Doctor winced and gave her an apologetic peck as he swapped places with her, mentally promising to rub her shoulders when all this was over.

"We're going to go back to the base and save everyone, because that's what we do" he declared firmly, "And I don't see anyone here who's going to stop us".

"…You realise you've just jinxed it now, don't you mate?"

The Doctor ignored him. The five of them made it to the TARDIS, keeping eyes and ears open for any sign of the Fisher King. As the TARDIS dematerialised, the Cloister Bell tolled.

They materialised again, not in the Drum, but in 'Location 512'. "Why are we still here?" the Doctor wondered, puzzled, as he and Romana stepped out of the TARDIS. It wasn't long before they spotted another TARDIS around the corner with other versions of themselves stepping out…they pulled back quickly and shared a worried glance. _I think you may have misjudged how stubborn your time machine can be, dearest,_ Romana commented silently.

Before her husband could retort, Bennett stepped out of the TARDIS. He'd left the Corsair nursing a headache and O'Donnell keeping an eye on him, and he just wanted to know, "Uh, what's wrong? I thought we were"-

"We were" the Doctor cut in, "Now we're not. We've moved half an hour backwards; we're locked in our own time stream. The TARDIS won't let us leave".

"Why wouldn't she?" Romana couldn't help but ask, with a puzzled frown. "Surely she can put up with the ghosts if it means saving you…unless, this is her way of telling us that you don't die".

"What do we do?" asked Bennett.

"Keep a low profile until the time lines catch up" Romana explained, ushering both Bennett and the Doctor back into the TARDIS. O'Donnell looked over and inquired, "Hey, what's going on? Where are the others?"

"Err, there's been a change of plan" Bennett admitted, "We seem to be in some sort of…time loop?" he explained uncertainly.

"Oh, so _that's_ why the co-ordinates say we're still in 1980's Scotland" the Corsair remarked sardonically. The others ignored him.

O'Donnell asked curiously, "Does that mean there are past versions of us out there? Can we see them? I always wondered what that would be like".

"Speaking from experience, it's not all it's cracked up to be" the Doctor commented, "But I suppose we can't just sit here. We need to find a way to stop more ghosts from being created. We're not talking to any of them, is that clear?" he asked seriously. O'Donnell nodded in immediate agreement; she wasn't stupid, she knew that if the Corsair hadn't been there to distract the Fisher King, she would have been killed. The least she could do to repay them was listen and do as they said.

Then there was Mason…to be honest, she'd been aware of his crush on her for ages; he'd never really been subtle about it. He used to make cups of coffee for her, and complimented her hair that one time she'd tried to braid it, and she'd caught him staring at her and he'd get flustered when she asked what the matter was…but she'd always thought it was just that, a crush. Then he dropped the L-word bombshell on her, and she…well, she'd be lying if she said she didn't have feelings for him too. He was sweet, kind of adorably hopeless, and supportive…but still, it was a lot to take in.

When they left the TARDIS, keeping an eye out for the other versions of themselves, they saw the Tivolian taking sextant sightings outside his spaceship. "Prentis, he's alive" Bennett pointed out. This was their chance to-

"No, he's just not dead yet" the Doctor corrected, "And we don't tell him".

"Yeah, but he's right there. I mean, we can just"-

"We can't" Romana shook her head, "That's not how it works. We just tried to cheat time and it only made our situation _more_ difficult".

"Romana's right" the Doctor agreed, "You can't just go back and cut off tragedy at the root. Because you find yourself talking to someone you just saw dead on a slab. Because then you really do see ghosts. We don't tell him. Understand? Not a word. We don't have that right".

They hid behind some metal barrels labelled 'Toxic Waste', though the barrels were actually empty and rusted. The past versions of themselves were only a few metres away, talking to Prentis. "This is so weird" O'Donnell muttered, "We're eavesdropping on _ourselves_ ".

"We need to keep track of the time line, we can't just rely on our memories" the Doctor explained to her.

Is that what I look like from the back?"

"You look great" Bennett mentioned without thinking; when he realised what he'd said, he blushed furiously and rambled, "Err, s-sorry, I mean, um"-

"Right back at you" she replied without looking at him; or rather, she was looking at the past version of him, with a small smirk and blush on her face. Bennett flushed even more, if that were possible; he smoothed his hair back and tried to lean casually against the wall they were hiding beside. Instead he dislodged some pipes leaning against the wall, sending them clattering against the barrels. They all ducked; O'Donnell remembered how she'd heard that noise earlier, and it was kind of funny to think that in a way, _she_ was the cause of it.

" _Smooth_ " the Corsair smirked.

" _Sorry_ " Bennett whispered apologetically, wincing. His attempt to not look like a total fool had…failed, miserably, in more ways than one. Then he noticed O'Donnell smiling that beautiful smile at him and felt like maybe it hadn't been such a disaster after all.

/

Clara paced back and forth in the confined space, thinking out loud. "The dark. The sword. The forsaken. The temple. When we found out what the ghosts were saying, we weren't surprised because the words, they were already inside us" she reminded the others.

"Yeah, because we'd seen the inscriptions and they planted the words in our subconscious" Emily nodded, before realising, "But Flavia and Lunn didn't _see_ the inscriptions…how did I miss that?" she wondered, face-palming.

"Nobody expects you to notice everything" Flavia reassured her…before she too had a realisation, and not a pleasant one. "Clara…I hope you're not about to suggest what I think you are".

Rather than assure her, Clara winced and smiled sheepishly. "Um, actually…I mean, it's our best shot. You and Lunn didn't see the words, so the ghosts have no reason to attack you. You two can't become beacons".

"Wait, wait, hold on" Lunn looked between Clara and Emily in increasing alarm, "What exactly _are_ you suggesting?" Cass, too, was frowning suspiciously. Lunn had been translating for her, and she didn't think she liked where the conversation was headed.

"You want us to try and get the phones back, don't you?" Flavia surmised, shaking her head in disbelief, "Clara, the idea that that the ghosts won't attack either of us…it's baseless speculation! I was with Romana when Pritchard – well, his ghost at least – attacked us. There's no way to tell if he would have spared me…and all three of the ghosts moved towards the hologram of Lunn. You can't expect us to believe they wouldn't have tried to attack his hologram, if it hadn't disappeared".

Whilst Lunn was listening to Cass, he'd forgotten to translate for Cass. She impatiently tapped him on the shoulder and gestured for him to explain what was going on. "Oh, she's saying they want her and I to retrieve the phones, because the ghosts might not attack us, but Flavia doesn't think we should risk it" he explained, signing as he went.

Cass looked from him to Flavia, to Clara, and back to Flavia again. She signed a message that Lunn translated as, "I like the way you think".

"Thank you, same here" Flavia signed back with a smile.

" _I'll_ go and get the phones" Emily declared, "If you're all going to argue about it". She made for the door but Clara rushed over, blocking her path and vehemently insisting, "No, no, not you! Emily, your parents would kill me if I let you do this".

"My parents aren't here! I can handle a few dumb ghosts, Clara. I don't want to just sit here waiting".

"You've seen the symbols, the words are inside your mind. The ghosts _would_ attack and try to kill you. No, we can't let you go, you're too important".

"And what, Flavia and I are expendable?" Lunn asked sharply, feeling rather offended.

"No, no, that's not what I meant!"

"Do we even _need_ the phones? I mean, the ghosts are probably just going to steal them again" he argued.

"We need a way to keep in touch with the others. Look, _I'll_ go. It's my idea, I'll just…grab the phones and run" Clara decided. Emily opened her mouth to protest, but before she could speak, Flavia said clearly and calmly, "I should go".

Lunn frowned in bewilderment. "I thought you didn't want to risk it?" he remarked in a questioning tone.

"I don't…but I want to risk Emily and Clara even less. Besides…we know for certain they would be targeted, but there _is_ a chance – however small and unfounded – that I won't be" she reasoned, sounding more as if she was trying to convince herself.

The young translator seemed to struggle with himself for a moment or two, before deciding, "Well in that case, you shouldn't go alone…" He signed a message to Cass, which basically translated to, "I ought to go with Flavia and help her".

Cass didn't take this too well; she scowled and signed a reply in a rather aggressive manner. _'Are you mad? You're going to get yourself killed!'_

' _We can look out for each other. She doesn't want to risk her friends and…I don't want to risk yours. There is a chance this will work, and if it does, it will be worth it"._ I hope, he added silently.

Cass still didn't look happy with the idea, but she grudgingly agreed to let them go. Clara checked that the coast was clear, and then pulled the door of the Cage open, allowing Flavia and Lunn to step through. The two of them headed off down the corridor, and Clara closed the door behind them. "It's our only chance" Emily tried to tell Cass; she signed something at him, and though neither of them understood, they got the gist.

"Okay, didn't need anyone to translate that" Clara remarked, as she and Emily gave an irritated Cass as much space as they could in the cramped, enclosed Cage.

/

When their past selves had left and Prentis had entered the spaceship, the time displaced five clambered to their feet, stretching stiffened limbs. The Doctor pulled himself up using the barrel, but as he did so, there was a distinctive ripping sound. "Oh, Doctor, your coat" Romana frowned in dismay, noticing that he'd torn it accidentally on the sharp edged metal. Her consternation was mirrored in his own expression. "Oh…I need more time. It's too soon, we haven't saved them yet".

"Well, I'm going to need some extra time as well" the Corsair remarked; unlike the rest of them he was looking towards the reservoir dam, looming in the near distance. He replied to the unspoken question, saying "I think I know where that missing power cell went".

The Doctor looked from the Corsair, to the dam, and then the spaceship. "Oh, that's ingenious. How are you going to get past Prentis?" he inquired.

"I think the Fisher King will take care of that" he replied grimly, "You and Romana…I hate to say it, but you need to distract Mr Ugly. I'll get these two back to the TARDIS and pick you up as soon as the dam goes, okay?"

"Do what you need to" the Doctor nodded, "Romana and I will deal with the Fisher King. I think we can keep each other out of trouble, right, dear?" he smiled at his wife, taking her hand as she smiled in return.

A thoroughly puzzled Bennett looked between them all and inquired, "Wait, I'm confused, what are we doing exactly?"

"I think we're blowing up a dam" O'Donnell replied, with a gleam in her eyes.

" _I'm_ blowing up a dam" the Corsair corrected, before nodded at Romana and the Doctor. "Good luck, both of you".

Romana and the Doctor returned the nod, and then looked at one another. No words needed to be said. They quickly checked the coast was clear, and then headed right for the church, going the long way round. They had to wait until the Fisher King attacked the Corsair and made his way here.

Romana eyed the drag marks in the soil outside and wondered, _How did the chamber end up_ outside _the church if the Fisher King pulled it inside?_

 _Mr Ugly obviously didn't know how to activate the anti-gravity locks, or perhaps he felt like exercising_ the Doctor replied, as they hid behind the annex. In the distance they heard the Corsair's attack; it wouldn't be long before the Fisher King came there. When it seemed like they could enter, the Doctor led her to the door.

He looked all around them, as if checking that the coast was clear, and then suddenly pulled Romana into a deep kiss; not that she was complaining of course. When he pulled back, she blinked and looked at him inquisitively. "Now I'm ready" he smiled solemnly, before opening the door for her like a gentleman.

As with most of the buildings, the 'church' was really a storage facility, a warehouse with crosses stuck on the roof. The Doctor and Romana made their way down a metal staircase to a basement area, following scuff marks on the floor. The stasis chamber lay in the middle of the room, open and empty.

Shadows filled every corner with draping black shrouds, but a series of skylights illuminated the centre of the room, so they walked over to it to wait. It wasn't long before heavy footfalls were heard. The Doctor squeezed Romana's hand as he called out, "We've come from the future. We've seen the chaos you cause, the bloodshed".

A low, smooth voice that reminded Romana of House, making her shiver, emanated from the shadows, as the two of them crossed the wide space to the stasis chamber. "Tell me what you have seen".

"We've seen your ghosts" Romana answered. She wasn't about to let this enemy disregard her the way Davros had, even if he _did_ have a longer history with the Doctor. The Fisher King would have to acknowledge both of them…and he'd have to kill her before she'd let him harm her husband, but she was careful not to let the Doctor see that thought.

"Ghosts?" the Fisher King inquired, still without revealing himself.

"Perhaps you call them something else. People were killed, innocent people and you made echoes of them to repeat co-ordinates, to this very spot, over and over again".

"How many ghosts do I create? How many?!"

"We only know of three".

"My ghosts will make more ghosts" the Fisher King revealed threateningly, "Enough to bring an armada. Enough to wake me from my sleep".

/

Meanwhile, Flavia and Lunn had been making their way through the Drum, following a signal on Flavia's sonic and keeping an eye out for ghosts. A very nervous Lunn glanced over at Flavia, who seemed to be taking the danger a lot better than he was. In his defence, until they brought that damn spaceship on board, he'd been content being Cass's assistant and translator…well, he'd be happy to be her everything, really. He just…hadn't quite worked up the courage to tell _her_ that.

He licked his lips, coughed and hesitantly inquired, "So, err, how'd you get mixed up with all this alien stuff?"

Flavia gave him a puzzled glance and asked, "What do you mean? I _am_ an alien, from your point of view at least".

"Really?" Lunn asked in surprise, "I thought…I mean, you seem so normal…it's just, no offence, but you don't seem like the um, the adventuring type".

"You could say that" she admitted, "Before…well, before, I was a high ranking politician, a respected pillar of society. I thought, I'd first, I'd hate the life of a renegade…but it's grown on me. Nearly everything I once concerned myself with seems…petty, now, in comparison".

"Oh…" Lunn wasn't sure what to say. A question came to mind. "Err, Flavia? If you don't mind my asking…I was just wondering if, perhaps…I mean, since the Doctor is with Romana, I thought maybe…no, actually, no, forget it. It's stupid".

"What is it?" Flavia asked, "Lunn…Tim, I'm not as easily offended as I might seem. Whatever you're wondering about, it can't possibly be _that_ inane".

"Oh, well, um…I was just wondering…is the Corsair into you? N-not that I was hoping you were single, or anything, I just thought – I mean, he was complimenting you and teasing you the way Bennett and O'Donnell do, and everyone _but_ them knows they like each other – but I guess if he liked you like that he wouldn't have let you put yourself in danger like I wouldn't have if Cass"- he clapped a hand over his mouth, stopping the verbal deluge, his face flaming.

In fairness, he wasn't the only one. "Into me?" Flavia repeated, "The Corsair? You humans have the oddest theories. The Corsair's _always_ teased everyone, and whilst I _appreciate_ his occasional compliments, and the way he insists on accompanying me, to protect me – as if I can't protect myself – and how loyal and protective and, admittedly amusing he is…I can assure you, he most certainly doesn't have any feelings for me, nor I for him. No, we're just"- she suddenly stopped and gripped Lunn's arm. The three ghosts were just ahead of them.

Retracing their steps wasn't an option, as the ghosts quickly noticed them and began to approach, muttering all the while. Flavia and Lunn stiffened, staying very still as the ghosts examined them. _I really, really hope that Clara and Emily's theory is correct_ Flavia thought, keeping an eye on the ghosts in case they looked as if they might attack. Lunn had clamped his eyes shut, and was busy repeating the mantra, _Please don't kill us, please don't kill us, please don't kill us…_ Fortunately, the ghosts seemed to lose interest in them and stepped back. Flavia squeezed Lunn's arm, he opened his eyes, and they moved on.

/

"What will happen when your people arrive?" the Doctor asked the Fisher King. They could hear him stomping through the shadows, but with all the echoes bouncing around, it was hard to tell exactly which direction he was walking, or if he was even coming towards them.

"We will drain the oceans and put the humans in chains".

"So, planet-wide ecological destruction and enslavement" Romana noted, "You should know that this world is protected, by us".

"Yes…one man, and one woman, lost in time" the Fisher King rumbled dismissively.

/

The Corsair, Bennett and O'Donnell were once more hiding out behind the barrels; the Corsair had his blaster at the ready, and had put the two humans on look-out duty. "Psst, Corsair" O'Donnell hissed, "What are we waiting for?"

"How do I put this? We need to wait until the Fisher King wakes up, kills Prentis, drags the suspended animation chamber off to the church, and then comes after our past selves and tries to kill me by slamming my skull into a wall".

"I still don't get what we're trying to do" Bennett complained, "You said you were blowing up the dam. Shouldn't we be going back to the TARDIS?"

"We will, but first I need to make sure Mr Ugly can't just hop in the spaceship, shoot off and bring an Armada back anyway. Capiche?"

"Yeah…so, what, are you going to take the keys out?"

The Corsair gave a non-committal shrug, looked over his shoulder at them and pressed a finger to his lips. Bennett shut up, but O'Donnell wanted to say something. "I just realised…I never said, thank you. For saving my life earlier, I mean".

Another shrug, and he replied, "You're welcome. I rescue gorgeous damsels in distress all the time, call it a hobby".

"Oi, watch who you're calling a damsel, buddy"-

"Hey, that's my girlfriend you're talking about, mate"-

"Whoa, _chill._ Okay, fine, you're not a damsel, and Bennett, green eyes don't suit you. I don't go after women who are already taken".

"Is that cos you like someone?" O'Donnell whispered conspiratorially, "But you don't know how to tell them?"

"If it helps, I can relate".

"You two are terrible at covert ops" he whispered to them, with a pointed glare. Bennett and O'Donnell had the decency to look apologetic and shut up. The Corsair sighed and resumed his watch for the Fisher King, since it couldn't be long now before Mr Ugly woke up, especially now that Prentis had wandered off. O'Donnell and Bennett resumed keeping a lookout in the other directions, but O'Donnell couldn't help noticing that…well, the Corsair hadn't _said_ he liked anyone, but he hadn't denied it either.

/

Lunn and Flavia followed the signal all the way to the mess hall. It was abandoned, or at least it appeared to be, and the phones were sitting right there on the table. Flavia frowned suspiciously – why would the ghosts just leave the phones lying about, unless… "Wait, Tim!"

He'd already gone to fetch the phones, and looked up at her cry, when the computer abruptly announced, "Door emergency security lock".

Flavia darted forwards into the room, moments before the door slammed shut, right where she'd been standing. She backed away, her hearts racing, and looked at Lunn. "You were right" she told him, "We shouldn't have risked it".

/

"The seed of their destruction is already sown" the Fisher King threatened, "They will die. The message will be sent. My people will come, and you will do nothing to stop it, Time Lords" he rumbled, finally stepping out of the shadows before them, looming over them. Three metres tall, covered in spiky plate armour, armed with huge mandibles and a large weapon. They could see welts and scorch marks on his chitin covered face and chest, clearly the result of the Corsair's blaster fire. If point blank alpha meson blasts had done little to injure him, Romana suddenly didn't like their chances.

/

In the Faraday Cage, Cass had started with tapping her foot and crossing, then uncrossing her arms. Then she began to pace back and forth, occassionally glancing at her watch, and looking more stressed by the minute. Emily knew she was just worried about Lunn and Flavia, but she hoped Cass wasn't getting cabin fever. She'd seen humans suffer cabin fever before and it was never pretty.

Out of nowhere, Cass seemed to snap, and she rushed to open the door. Clara, who had anticipated that she might try something like this, quickly blocked her path. "Hey! No, no, no, no. Cass! Wait, what are you doing?" she demanded, gripping the older woman by the shoulders. "Look, Lunn, he is going to be fine, I promise. Flavia will look after him, she knows what she's doing. We have to stay here". Cass stopped struggling to push Clara aside and instead resorted to looking desperately worried. "I know that look. I _do_ that look" Clara protested in face of the puppy dog eyes.

"They _have_ been gone for a while" Emily pointed out, putting on a bit of the puppy dog eyes herself. Clara gaped at her traitorous actions, and then groaned in defeat. Oh, the Doctor would kill her for this… "Okay, _fine"_ she agreed grudgingly, ushering Cass back a few steps so she could check the coast was clear, "But we stick together, okay?"

Cass and Emily nodded in agreement, and the three of them slipped out of the Faraday Cage, closing the door behind them.


	13. Before the Flood Pt 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: I went back and edited a portion of the previous chapter, to try and stay true to the timeline. The trouble with this episode is that because they go back in time, it's hard to line up what the past and future versions of them are doing simultaneously. Sorry if things don't line up, I've done my best but as I say, it's tricky to figure out what's happening when.

Before the Flood – Part Three

O'Donnell and Bennett couldn't have imagined how difficult it would be, to lie hidden behind barrels, knowing that someone was about to die and they could do nothing to stop it. It wasn't long before Prentis returned from taking readings; they saw him enter the TARDIS, heard the blood-curdling roar drown out his screams, and watched the Fisher King heave the stasis chamber out of the chamber and leave the craft, heading towards the church. "We don't have long" the Corsair said grimly, getting to his feet and pulling them up as well.

/

The Doctor and Romana gripped each other's hands tightly, stumbling backwards against the chamber as the Fisher King loomed over them. "Time Lords" he hissed contemptuously, his stale breath reeking, "Cowardly, vain curators who suddenly remembered they had teeth and became the most warlike race in the galaxy. But you two!" he snarled, glaring down at them, "You are curious. You have both seen the words. I can hear them tick inside you. But you are still locked in your history. Still slavishly protecting Time. Willing to die rather than change a word of the future".

/

Emily, Clara and Cass came to an intersection; unsure of which way the other two would have gone, Clara began to head down the right hand corridor, whilst Cass turned left. Emily rolled her eyes – so much for not splitting up – and called, "This way, Clara". The two of them caught up with Cass, and walked on either side of her. Emily took the lead, knowing that she could follow the faint mental trace to Flavia and therefore Lunn. Unbeknownst to any of them, Moran's ghost was trailing them, hefting a large fireman's axe over his shoulder and being deathly silent.

/

"You will both be strong beacons" the Fisher King growled, wondering, "How many ghosts can I make of you?" He stepped back and turned, taking a few steps away from them.

"You and the Tivolians have quite a lot in common" Romana commented, hoping her nerves weren't betrayed in her voice, "You're both willing to do whatever it takes to survive. The difference being that the Tivolians will surrender and submit to anyone, whilst you hijack the dead and create electromagnetic projections of them. Not sure which method I prefer more, to be honest".

"Yes, it's remarkable, really" the Doctor agreed, "That will to endure. That refusal to ever cease. It's extraordinary. And it makes a fella think. Because you know what? If all I have to do to survive is tweak the future a bit, what's stopping me?" he asked rhetorically, before answering himself, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, the ripple effect. Maybe it will mean that the universe will be ruled by cats or something, in the future.

"But the way I see it, even a ghastly future is better than no future at all. You robbed those people of their deaths, made them nothing more than a message in a bottle. You violated something more important than Time. You bent the rules of life and death. So _we_ are putting things straight. Here, now, this is where your story ends" he declared firmly. The Fisher King glared at them and growled; they stood their ground and stared right back.

/

Unbeknownst to anyone in the Drum, the stasis chamber lying in the hangar began to open. Flavia and Lunn, of course, were preoccupied with trying to escape the mess hall. Somehow the ghosts had managed to deadlock the door, rendering Flavia's sonic all but useless. "I swear, I really need to have this upgraded" she grumbled, hitting the sonic against her palm. Perhaps she could ask the Corsair… A sudden, unpleasant sensation made her stiffen. "Oh, dear…Lunn, I don't mean to alarm you, but I have a feeling our friends have left the Cage".

"How can you tell?"

"We all have an underlying minor psychic connection and I can sense Emily approaching" Flavia explained in a rather deadpan tone, "I rather doubt Clara and Cass wouldn't have noticed her leave".

Lunn's eyes widened in alarm; in his panic he attempted to prise the door open with his bare hands. "We have to get out of here!"

"Working on it" Flavia muttered, trying once more to sonic the door open…despite it so far proving fruitless.

/

Cass and Clara followed Emily, as she in turn sensed Flavia's presence…but she wasn't the only one sensing a presence. Years of deafness had made Cass _more_ aware of her surroundings than ever, and she could not shake the feeling that they were being watched, followed…every time she'd looked over her shoulder before now, she'd seen nothing, but the feeling still lingered...up ahead, Emily peeked round a corner and quickly pulled back.

"Pritchard and Prentis are there" she whispered to the others, peeking out again to see what the two ghosts were doing…not much, actually, they just stood there swaying on the spot.

"What about Moran?" Clara hissed in reply. Emily simply shook her head; he wasn't there. Cass frowned in suspicion…if Prentis and Pritchard were there, but Moran wasn't, and she'd felt like they were being watched – she quickly turned, and screamed at the sight of Moran hefting an axe above his head, poised to strike. He slammed the huge blade down right where Clara had been standing, had she not leapt out of the way at the last second. Her heartbeat racing a mile a minute, all Clara could do was shout, "RUN!"

She and Cass dodged past either side of Moran; Emily leapt over the axe embedded in the floor and dashed after them. "This way!" cried Emily, ducking down a corridor she knew would lead them back to the mess hall Lunn and Flavia were trapped in. When she looked over her shoulder to check her friends were following, she saw Pritchard and Prentis join Moran in stalking towards them. _At least this means none of them are waiting to ambush us_ she thought, to look on the bright side.

/

The Fisher King had heard enough; these Time Lords were mere irritations compared to his might, and they would soon join the ranks of his ghostly beacons. "There is nothing you can do" he asserted, aiming his weapon at the Doctor and Romana, prepared to end them and this pathetic excuse for a resistance.

"We've already done it" the Doctor informed him calmly, "The words have gone. We got rid of them. That future we saw, none of that will happen now".

"The message will never be embedded into anyone's subconscious, no-one will be killed, and your armada will _never_ arrive".

"That's the thing about knowing you're going to die; you've got nothing left to lose" the Doctor finished triumphantly. The Fisher King snarled; he _had_ to ensure the symbols were still there, that they were bluffing as he suspected…he knew of the Time Lord's dedication to preserving time. Angered by this delay, he shoved Romana into the Doctor's arms and swiftly strode away, up the stairs to the upper level. "Romana, are you alright?" the Doctor asked, concerned, as he helped her to her feet.

"Yes; come on, we don't have much time" she reminded him, turning to the stasis chamber. She really hoped that the Corsair, Bennett and O'Donnell were getting back to the TARDIS, and that Clara and Emily were safe…

/

At that moment, more or less, Clara and Emily were running up to a deadlocked door. Emily pulled out her sonic and flashed the lock, unaware of the deadlock seal; but doing so at the same time as Flavia overwhelmed the seal, and the door shot open. "Come on, we need to – guys, you can hug later!" Emily protested impatiently, as Lunn and Cass embraced, relieved to see each other alive and well.

The ghosts of Moran, Prentis and Pritchard appeared from around the far corner, approaching them down one corridor…the five of them made to run down the other, only for the ghost of the Doctor to step out of the wall, blocking their escape route. "What do we do?" Lunn demanded, looking between the Doctor and the three other ghosts, "We're trapped!"

"Well, the Doctor's ghost isn't armed" Clara pointed out.

"Yeah, but those three are, and they're between us and the Cage!" Lunn pointed out. Just then, one of the phones in his hands started ringing.

Emily snatched it from him and slapped it to her ear. "Mum?" she asked urgently, and then said "Mum says go to the hangar or the bridge. Which is nearer?"

Lunn quickly signed out 'hangar, bridge, nearer?' to Cass, who thought for a moment and then beckoned for them to follow, leading them right through the Doctor's ghost and towards the hangar. Emily heard her mum hang up and lowered her phone; she hoped her mother was okay.

/

The Fisher King marched into the spaceship, ignoring the body of the Tivolian lying on the slab, and turned to the bulkhead. The four symbols were still engraved on its surface, ready to infect all who observed them… "The Time Lords lied" he growled, frustrated. He turned, his heavy cloak sweeping behind his towering form, and stalked out of the craft. He would find those Time Lords, hunt them down and make examples of them…but he was distracted from his bloodthirsty quest by a sudden explosion, up at the top of that dam…

For a moment he could only stare at the cracking dam, wondering how the Time Lords had found time to plant an explosive up there…but the Fisher King quickly came to his senses and hurried back to the ship. He would have to escape and bring his armada to this backwater planet himself. It occurred to him that the Time Lord he'd first encountered, the one with the blaster, had perhaps not died as he'd initially believed – but the man would be no threat now, undoubtedly injured and nowhere to be seen.

Alas, the Fisher King's hubris would be his undoing. He powered up the spacecraft, raised the ramp up and prepared for take-off…but then he went to disengage the gravitational controls, to allow the craft to rise and escape Earth's gravity with little energy wasted. That was when he discovered the Corsair's sabotage; both the thrusters and anti-gravs were disabled, the wires and cables cut, and one of the engines wasn't even firing. The Fisher King gave a roar of frustration and stormed out of the craft. He would make these Time Lords _pay._

He ran, not marched, towards the church, to the buildings where he knew their time machine must be. He'd blast open the door and slaughter them inside if he had to, but they would _not_ snatch his victory from him at this final hour! As he approached the church, or warehouse, he saw that Time Lady dragging the stasis chamber out into the open. He ran towards her, but a second explosion sent him stumbling and made her look up. She lowered the chamber and then ran for her life, pursued by the Fisher King.

A hand reached out of thin air, grabbed her outstretched one and pulled her into an invisible craft. The Fisher King skidded to a halt and roared in anger and hate; he rushed towards the space he'd seen the Time Lady disappear, intending to tear his way into the time machine. He was knocked back by the temporal breeze as the craft dematerialised, and by the time he'd hefted himself to his feet, it was too late. The lake water crashed down from the now crumbled dam, flooding the valley…the Fisher King roared once more, arms outstretched, as the wall of water slammed into him and swept him away.

/

The five trapped in the Drum ran into the main hangar, Cass leading the way. The ghosts pursuing them walked past the door moments after it slid closed…hopefully, the ghosts would keep out. That hope was short lived when the first three ghosts returned and moved through the door, advancing menacingly on them. "Back, get back" Clara urged them, nudging Emily back towards…the stasis chamber, which started to clunk and hiss out steam.

Lunn, Emily, Flavia and Clara spun around, looking between the ghosts and the chamber. Lunn tugged Cass around as well; they looked back and forth, once more trapped between a ghostly rock and a hard place. The three ghosts paused, staring at each of them in turn as if trying to figure out which one to attack first. Emily eyes widened as she turned back to the stasis chamber, finally sensing a very familiar presence within…at last, the countdown ended, and the lid sprang open, to reveal none other than –

"Dad!" cried Emily, delighted, rushing over to help her father climb out of the stasis chamber. She wrapped her arms around his waist and happily declared, "I knew it! I knew you wouldn't die!"

He wrapped one arm around her shoulders and with his other hand, adjusted his sonic sunglasses, staring through them at the ghosts. The ghosts flickered and disappeared from view. "How did you"- Clara started to ask, but the Doctor pulled away from the hug and declared, "Follow me".

He led them back to the bridge, where the TARDIS was waiting for them. The Corsair emerged from the time machine, holding up his sonic and a thumbs-up. The Doctor tossed him the sonic sunglasses and then moved to pull Romana, who had stepped out behind the Corsair, into a deep kiss. "Give me a break" he murmured when he pulled back, "I haven't done that in a hundred and thirty nine years".

"Does one of you want to explain what's going on?" Clara inquired, although she was pleased to see all the reunions. "Those ghosts are still out there, you know!"

"Not for long" the Corsair announced, flicking a switch on the control panel. He'd attached the sonic sunglasses to his screwdriver, and stuck the screwdriver in a port – now, a guttural roar emanated throughout the base.

"What is that?" asked Lunn.

"Mr Ugly" O'Donnell replied, much to his bewilderment. The Doctor pointed at the CCTV footage of the Faraday Cage, where his 'ghost' was standing, mouth open, roaring loudly…and the ghosts were responding, moving towards the noise. "It's the roar of their master" he explained, "The Fisher King. Recorded on the Corsair's sonic and combined with a holographic projection from the glasses". They watched as the four ghosts entered the Cage, walking through the flickering 'ghost' Doctor. The real one remotely closed the doors from the bridge, trapping the ghosts inside.

There was a few moments of silence, and then Clara asked, "So, wait…your ghost was a hologram the whole time?"

"Projected from my glasses. Like the one we made of Lunn to lure the ghosts into the Faraday cage. With a soupçon of artificial intelligence, and a few pre-recorded phrases thrown in. As soon as you brought me and the chamber on board, it connected with the base's Wi-Fi and Bob's your uncle, you've got a ghost Doctor." the Doctor explained, removing them and the sonic from the port, tossing the sonic back to the Corsair.

He caught it deftly in one hand, twirled it in his fingers and looked over at Flavia. "So how did you manage whilst we were gone, V?"

"Quite well, actually…apart from your hologram releasing the ghosts so they could steal our phones" she replied, giving the Doctor a pointed look. It promptly went ignored, as he beckoned Emily over and put the sonic sunglasses on her, instructing her to "Stay still. I think you all owe my daughter an apology".

"What, why?" asked Clara, frowning in bewilderment.

"She told you my ghost wasn't like the others and you didn't believe her".

"Neither did you, dad" Emily pointed out, not accusingly, "But I honestly don't care. I'm just glad you're okay".

"So, what _are_ the ghosts?" asked Lunn.

"Electromagnetic projections that were out of sync with the base's day mode, hence why they only came out at night" Romana explained, just as the Doctor removed the sonic glasses. "We just need to erase the memory of the symbols from all our minds, so there's no danger of any of us…accidentally summoning an army of Fisher Kings" she explained, taking the glasses from her husband and putting them on herself.

/

It wasn't long before everyone had their minds cleared of the symbols – "Though you might find you've lost a couple of other memories too. You know, like people you went to school with, or previous addresses or how to drink liquids" the Doctor warned them.

Bennett asked, "What will happen to the ghosts?" He was still all too aware that O'Donnell could have been one of them; if she'd tried to help the Corsair, if the Fisher King hadn't left to do…something, he still wasn't clear on what exactly had happened back in the abandoned base. He squeezed her hand reassuringly, reminding himself that she was still there.

"We've contacted UNIT" explained the Corsair, "They'll remove the Cage with the ghosts and send it into orbit. Away from the Earth's magnetic field, the ghosts will just fade away".

"And they'll destroy the spaceship, so the writing can't affect anyone else" Romana added.

"Good riddance, I say" O'Donnell announced, before grinning and throwing an arm around Bennett's shoulders, "By the way, guess what? Mason and I are dating now!" She turned her head and kissed him on the cheek, prompting a soppy, blushing grin to appear on his face.

"Wow, congratulations" Lunn smiled at them; Cass tapped his shoulder and signed something out to him. "Err…Cass says, 'It's about time'" he explained for the benefit of everyone else, and they all chuckled. Bennett shrugged and just said, "Well, I realised that sometimes you just have to go for it. There's no point in wasting time, because things can change in an instant and then it's too late".

"You've got to grab the chance when it comes" O'Donnell agreed, "If you like someone, you should just tell them and see what happens, instead of never telling them and regretting it later" she advised…eyeing the Corsair as she did so.

"Speaking of which…Lunn, can you translate something to Cass for me?"

"Of course" he agreed, with an inquisitive look.

"Tell her…tell her that you're in love with her and that you always have been".

"What?" Lunn's mouth dropped open in shock. Cass noticed and frowned in bewilderment, nudging him to ask what was wrong. A suddenly flustered Lunn looked between her, Bennett and O'Donnell, who was giving him a thumbs-up. He swallowed nervously and relayed the message to Cass; at first she seemed confused, looking between him and Bennett. "Oh, God, no. I was just passing on what he said. Please, don't feel"- Lunn's hasty attempt at a verbal retreat soon ended when Cass pulled him into a kiss.

"Huh…good thing she felt the same way" Emily remarked.

"Yeah" the Corsair glanced at Flavia, "I guess some people are just lucky that way".

/

Later, a rescue sub had come to pick up the Drum's crew and the Time Quintet, along with Clara were back on board the TARDIS. Clara said curiously, "Here's what I don't understand. You guys did change the future. You stopped the Fisher King from returning".

"The Fisher King had been dead for a hundred and fifty years before we even got here" the Doctor replied, "But once we went back, we became part of events. But here's the thing. The messages my ghost gave, they weren't for you; they were for us. That list – it started with the order people died in, until it reached the Corsair, but you and Emily being the next names on the list meant I couldn't take the risk that the Corsair surviving was just a fluke. Romana and I recorded the phrases whilst we were sneaking to the church".

"Is that why your ghost said 'the chamber will open tonight'?" asked Emily, "To tell yourself to get in the stasis chamber and set it to open today?"

"Exactly" the Doctor nodded, giving her a proud smile.

"Clever" Flavia admitted, "But really, you could have saved us all a lot of trouble if you hadn't had your ghost release the others from the Cage".

"I didn't have a choice, Flavia…am I supposed to apologise?" he asked Romana genuinely; she just smiled and shook her head fondly at him.

"How do you mean?" Clara frowned in bewilderment.

"Think about it. I programmed my ghost to say and do those things because that's what you lot told me it was saying and doing. I only created the ghost hologram in the first place because I knew it was there. I was reverse engineering the narrative".

Flavia blinked in surprise, as the penny dropped, and admitted "Okay, fair enough. I suppose you didn't have a choice".

"I still don't get it" Clara said, confused.

"Put it this way, then; when did I first have those ideas, Clara?"

"Well, it must have been…" she trailed off as the realisation hit her. "Wow".

"Exactly" the Doctor smiled mysteriously, "Who composed Beethoven's Fifth?"

"Beethoven, I'm guessing" the Corsair snarked, breaking the moment and making them chuckle. He rubbed his head and declared "Now if you'll excuse me, I have something to take care of".

/

Ten minutes later, the Corsair sighed in relief as the bone regenerator finished its job. The Fisher King had shoved him into the wall harder than he'd let on; a tiny, hairline crack had appeared on the left hand side of his skull. At first he'd been too dazed by the concussion to feel the pain, and then the TARDIS had provided painkillers which numbed it to the point he could focus – which he was grateful for, and he'd made a mental note to clean out the thermo-couplings as a thank you.

It was all taken care of now, and no-one would be the wiser. He set the medical equipment back where he'd found it and made his way to his bedroom, flopping down on the king sized mattress with a huff. "What a day…well, actually, I suppose it was pretty par for the course. I mean, we almost died, so that's nothing new" he noted idly. He had a habit of talking to himself when he was alone in his room…or as he preferred to think of it, expressing his thoughts aloud.

"I can't believe O'Donnell thought I'm into someone. As if. This Time Lord is one hundred percent unattached, a lone wolf, utterly….oh, who am I kidding?" he scoffed, looking over at the photo frames hanging up on the wall. Most were just of particularly pretty explosions or high tech weaponry he'd taken a shine to…but three in particular, reminded him of what he'd gained lately.

The first was a photo of him with one arm around Amy Pond and the other holding Melody, with River standing on her 'twin' sister's other side, and Rory besides his wife. The second was of the Time Quartet, before Emily hadn't been born, and they weren't even posing, Amy had just snapped the picture whilst they were in the console room. The third picture was a proper 'family portrait', taken back when the Doctor was still in his last incarnation and Emily was just a little tyke.

In each of the last two pictures, he was standing next to or near Flavia. When they took pictures like this, it only made sense for the Doctor to stand beside Romana but he didn't need to stand next to Flavia. He didn't need to partner up with her on adventures, either…it was just that the Doctor _always_ wanted to go with Romana, which was only fair, so he and Flavia were paired up by default.

"It's not like she needs protecting or anything" he told himself, "I just like teasing her…getting on her nerves…making her blush… _ugh._ What am I saying? I'm not into Flavia. Okay, maybe a _bit –_ she is pretty hot. Especially when she lets her hair down, literally, and she's quit being a stick in the mud by now..." he heaved a sigh and muttered, "There's no point dwelling on it, it's not like she'd even consider me and her being…I need a shower" he decided, heaving himself off the bed.

Afterwards, he went to get a drink from the kitchen; something ice cold and preferably alcoholic. Of course he _would_ walk into the same kitchen as Flavia, just as she was reaching up to a shelf. Her white tank top slid up, revealing a lightly tanned midriff, and her ebony hair dangled in damp, curling strands around her shoulders, and he focused very hard on the back of her head because of course she _would_ have her back to him…then she turned round and started when she noticed him, nearly dropping the jar of tea bags she was holding.

"Oh! Don't _do_ that" she chided, with a small laugh, "I need to hang a bell on you".

"If you want" he countered cheerfully, walking over to the fridge and peering inside. Damn it, they were out of beer…he'd make do with a Coke. "Nice top" he added, snapping the tab and taking a sip of carbonated goodness.

Flavia glanced down at her top. "Oh, it's just…I mean, that adventure was rather stressful, you know, so I was just going to go to…uh…"

"Wait…were you about to say 'go to bed'?" the Corsair asked, smirking, "I gotta admit, I never took you for the type to sleep in a tank top".

"I'm not! I mean – that is – I just threw it on. It was just there, so…oh, honestly, I don't know why I'm explaining myself to you".

"No, please, continue, it's fascinating" he grinned at her, "In fact, why don't you give me a demonstration?"

 _He is so infuriating sometimes_ Flavia grumbled to herself, trying and failing to hide the blush that was flooding her face with crimson. _Well, two can play at that game._ "You know, Lunn said the most outrageous thing earlier" she remarked casually, refusing to look directly at him.

"Oh, yeah? What was that?"

"He asked if you were attracted to me" she replied…and to be honest, she took immense satisfaction in seeing the way he spluttered on his Coke. It was about time _he_ was the one getting flustered…

"How'd he"- the Corsair cut himself off quickly.

"Oh, I don't know how he got that impression" she shrugged, "You know what humans are like, they see links between everything. I told him there was nothing between us".

"Yeah…you know, O'Donnell thought _I_ was into someone. Just cos I said I don't go after people who aren't interested".

"Did she? What a coincidence. Is that why she kept glancing at you, when she and Bennett were talking about taking opportunities and not regretting anything?"

"You noticed?" he asked, surprised…then he face-palmed when he realised what he'd just said.

"I'm rather observant, apparently" she remarked drily…but then she eyed him curiously, a sudden suspicious thought hitting her. "Corsair, be honest…back on Skaro, when we nearly…well, when we thought we were about to get killed, you were going to tell me I was pretty…was that _actually_ what you were going to say?"

"Err…honest, you said? Okay…" he hesitated, but…maybe O'Donnell was right. Maybe he should just get this over with… "I err, I was actually going to say…I always thought you were hot. Hot and err…well…this would be so much easier if it wasn't you I was talking to".

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing! I just meant – I mean, we're friends, right, so it's awkward. I can ask complete strangers if they wanna get it on cos I'm never gonna see them again, but you're…always…around…"

By now, Flavia was frowning slightly in bewilderment. "Are you…saying you _are_ attracted to me?" she asked, "And you want to…but you…Corsair, we've been living under the same roof…in a manner of speaking…for over five centuries now. Why haven't you ever brought this up before?"

"I did! I mean, I tried, but you always brushed it off as a joke or we were too busy – and besides, like I said, it's _awkward_ ".

"Well, yes, but…all that flirting and teasing…why didn't you just _ask_ me?"

"Do I really have to spell it out for you?"

"That would be nice, yes!"

"You would have said 'no'!" he snapped, "In fact, you would have run for the hills! I mean, granted, at first I had other things on my mind, but you were so stiff back then - that was _not_ a Freudian slip, I just meant… you were _proper._ You wore smart clothes and kept your hair tied back, and kept trying to act like the Chancellor you used to be…I told you, I don't hit on women who aren't interested, and I've known the whole time that there's not an icicle in hell's chance that someone like you would ever want to sleep with someone like me!"

At this point Flavia was staring at him, mouth agape. "I…I…"

The Corsair scoffed bitterly. _I knew she'd be revolted…_ "I spelled it out for you, just like you asked. Are you happy now?" he asked sarcastically, turning on his heel and heading towards the door.

"I…wait! Corsair!" she called after him, but he ignored her, heading back to his room. He really wasn't in the mood for getting rejected tonight…or ever, really.

Flavia didn't pursue him; she just slid into a seat at the table and dropped her head into her hands. _What do I do now?_

/

A/N: Yeah…thought it was time the whole Corsair-Flavia thing got a bit of actual development instead of minor hints. I'm just as interested as you guys to see how this plays out, but I think I could get used to writing tsundere Corsair.


	14. The Girl Who Died Pt 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

The Girl Who Died – Part One

"Um, are you alright, Flavia? You look really tired" Emily commented over breakfast the next morning.

Her godmother took yet another sip of strong, black coffee and gave a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Oh, I'm fine…I just had trouble falling asleep last night" she explained. That was somewhat of an understatement; she'd lain wide awake for hours in a maelstrom of thoughts and emotions.

"Something on your mind?" asked Romana, giving her a concerned look. Flavia hesitated, and then opened her mouth to reply. Before she could say anything, the door slid open, admitting the Corsair. It struck Flavia immediately that he looked as worn as she did. _Serves him right if he couldn't sleep,_ she thought a touch resentfully. How could he just drop a bombshell on her like that and then walk off?

For a second, a split second, their eyes met – the Corsair quickly glanced away and went to fetch himself a mug of coffee. "Morning" he said without looking at any of them, seemingly distracted by something. The Doctor was oblivious as ever, muttering a greeting back as he tried to eat cereal and write equations at the same time. Romana didn't mention anything, but she glanced between Flavia and the Corsair, wondering why he looked so tired and what _she_ wanted to say.

"You look tired too" Emily noted. The Corsair just shrugged, pouring himself a bowl of cereal. A few moments later he deigned to reply, "I went out last night". The tone of his voice made it clear that asking for further information would be pointless.

Flavia felt irritation rise within her chest… _Who does he think he is? He can't just…just tell me something like_ that, _and then he goes off on an adventure, like nothing happened…stupid, insufferable git, thinks he's so clever and charming…handsome…honourable…_ Flavia caught her wandering thoughts, chided herself and hoped that she wasn't blushing. The Doctor was saying something, she tried to concentrate – they were trying to figure out where to go that day. Flavia honestly didn't care, so long as she didn't have to be around the Corsair.

In the end, the Time Quintet headed off to Japalaya, right at the end of the rainy season. Flavia was too distracted – no, exasperated by the Corsair that she barely noticed the copious amounts of mud…and she barely paid attention to the large and colourful blooms that filled the tropical jungles of the planet. It wasn't long before the five of them had to split up, in an attempt to bring peace between two tribes; the Doctor suggested her and the Corsair team up, and she didn't know how to refuse without arousing suspicion…fortunately, Romana offered to go with her instead.

The two of them were welcomed by the chief of Tribe Eqeunchu. He told them of his people's struggles to keep Tribe Archa from taking their lands and their resources, and the two Time Ladies did their best to work out a peaceful solution…it didn't take long for Romana to notice that Flavia's hearts weren't in the endeavour. The other Time Lady seemed distracted and unfocused, which just wasn't like her, especially when it came to matters like this. She asked if they could retire for a private discussion, to which the chief gracefully accepted.

He guided them to an empty hut. Romana waited until she was confident that nobody was listening, and then looked at Flavia, both of them sitting cross legged across from one another. "What's wrong?"

For a moment, Flavia's eyes widened; she quickly schooled her expression and answered, "I, err, I don't know what you mean, Romana".

Up went the sceptical eyebrow. "You couldn't sleep last night, and it's obvious something's bothering you, Flavia. Please, tell me what's wrong…we're friends, you can trust me".

Seconds passed…then Flavia sighed, quickly relenting. "You're right…it's just, I don't really want to think about it, let alone _talk_ about it…oh, but I suppose I need to get it off my chest. Better you than anybody else…" she cleared her throat and explained, "Last night…I was making a cup of tea, and the Corsair came in to get a drink as well.

"He teased me a bit, I teased him back…long story short, he basically said that he's…always found me attractive, and he, um, implied that…well, that is to say, he, err, wanted to…" Flavia couldn't bring herself to say it out loud, but Romana could easily guess from her blush.

"Really?!" she asked, eyes widened in surprise. Flavia nodded, still blushing, and Romana took a minute to try and mull it over…a task easier said than done. "I'd never thought…if that's true then he hid it exceptionally well…okay, maybe not _that_ well, he does flirt with you. Then again, he flirts with a lot of people. Still..." she frowned, puzzled, "If he's had these feelings for you for this long, why wouldn't he bring it up sooner?"

"I asked him that. He said it was because I would've said no, that there was no chance someone like me would wish to be… intimate… with someone like him. What does that even mean?" she huffed, "Someone like me? Just because I prefer to be cultured and he's so…so… _not_ " she said tersely, eloquence failing her entirely, "He just assumed I wouldn't be interested and then he finally mentions it and then he just _walks off,_ like it doesn't even matter and goes off to have an adventure _whilst I'm trying to work out what the heck just happened_ …"

Romana raised an eyebrow again at Flavia's mutterings… " _Are_ you interested?" she asked, stemming the flow, "In the Corsair, I mean".

"What?" Flavia stared at her, incredulous. "Of course not!" she exclaimed, "And even if I was, after this…I don't even want to _look_ at him! He's nothing but trouble and the last thing I'd do would be to sleep with him" she declared firmly.

"So he was right".

"Yes! I mean, no…oh, that's not the point, Romana! Him being… _him_ has nothing to do with why I'd turn him down" Flavia snapped, before sighing and rubbing a hand over her face. "I shouldn't be taking this out on you…let's just focus on figuring out a peace treaty between the Equenchans and Archans".

"In a minute" Romana insisted calmly, "Flavia, I know you won't want to hear this…but you need to talk to the Corsair. This is something the two of you need to work out together".

"I doubt he'd listen. It doesn't really matter, anyway…he thinks I'm not interested, and I _know_ I'm not interested…I'm sure if we just wait a while, this will all blow over".

"Don't you think he deserves to get a straight answer? Please, promise me you'll at least think about talking to him".

"…Fine. I promise".

/

 _I suppose I've been in worse predicaments_ Flavia mused as she floated in space, one hand gripping Clara's, who was also drifting untethered. Thank goodness they'd been wearing spacesuits when that alien pushed them into the airlock turned teleport… "Clara? Can you hear me? Don't panic".

"Trying not to!" came the breathless reply, "Where're the others?!"

" _On our way!_ " Romana called through the comm., " _Just a tad busy!"_

"Could you be busy later, perhaps?" asked Flavia.

" _Yes, you two are next on the list!_ " the Doctor replied that time, " _We're under attack from four and a bit battle fleets, in case you think we're slacking"._

Clara suddenly gasped. "I, I think there's something in my spacesuit".

" _Yes, that's possible, actually. You were too long in the spider mines_ ".

"Okay, explain?!"

" _It's possibly a Love Sprite. Sucks your brain_ "- a loud bang sounded over the comm., " _Sucks your brain out through your mouth, hence the name_ ".

"Ugh!" Flavia winced in disgust, "What sort of twisted person names a vile creature like that a _Love Sprite?!_ "

"Who cares what it's called?" Clara huffed, "It's halfway up my leg!"

" _We're trying to get a lock onto your position, but_ somebody _scrambled the teleport feeds!_ "

" _Hey, I was trying to hide_ our _position! How was I supposed to know Clara and Flavia were off on an impromptu spacewalk?"_ the Corsair demanded.

Well, on the bright side, if she died here she could blame the Corsair and not feel guilty about it. "Anything we can do to help speed things up?"

" _Yes, actually!_ " the Doctor answered, " _Describe the four most interesting stars you can see"._

Flavia wanted to ask how in Omega's name that would help, but Clara was already talking. "There's a blue one, quite big. Two little yellowish ones just below"-

" _Colour of whisky, smaller one blinking?"_

"Yes! It's on the back of my neck, I can feel it".

"Great! I thought asphyxiation would kill you first. Can you see a nebula? Can you see a nebula in a sort of wing-shape? Bit green at the end?"

"Yes! Yes, we can!"

"Great, I've seen it too. I wondered where it was".

"Doctor! Would you stop messing about and"-

Flavia was cut off by the sound of the TARDIS materialising around them; as her feet hit the floor, she stumbled backwards, off balance. Someone caught her from behind and helped her stand, taking her helmet off. "Thank…you" she said awkwardly, seeing who it was. The Corsair just gave her a mirthless smile and handed the helmet back to her. "No problem" he replied.

Meanwhile, Romana had gotten Clara's helmet off and the Doctor had pulled away the parasite, stomping on it repeatedly. Clara coughed and asked, "How did we do?"

"Oh, not a word about my spot-on materialisation skills" the Doctor mock-complained. After some pointed clearing of throats, he sighed and amended, "The rest of you helped a bit as well".

"What about all the Velosians? Are they safe?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Well, I lured their attackers halfway across the universe and drained their weapons banks" the Doctor explained, "Not to mention, I also saved a school teacher and a Time Lady from having their brains devoured and/or being asphyxiated in deep space. So, now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go outside and wipe my boot on the grass". The TARDIS had landed, and without checking the co-ordinates or environment, as usual, the Doctor walked right out. Since he didn't immediately dart back in, the others assumed it was safe to follow.

They'd landed in a forest at night, with crickets chirping away in the undergrowth around them. Clara wondered, "What's to stop them re-arming and trying again?"

"Nothing, unfortunately" Romana answered, "But next time, the Velosians will be ready for them".

"It's the best we could do, Clara" the Doctor added, "We're not actually the police, that's just what it says on the box" he said, gesturing at the 'Police Box' sign on the TARDIS.

"You're always talking about what you can and can't do but you never tell me the rules".

"Well, here's a quick rundown" the Corsair remarked casually, "Rule one, don't cross your own timeline except for emergencies and cheap tricks. Rule two, don't interfere with fixed points in time. Rule three, don't go back in time just to change something in the present/future. Trust me, it gets messy".

"We're time travellers, Clara. We tread softly. It's okay to make ripples, but not tidal waves" the Doctor explained solemnly. The grave tone was somewhat lost on Clara, who sniggered and remarked, "You _are_ a tidal wave".

"Don't say that" he frowned, annoyed...with what felt like no warning, the six of them were suddenly surrounded by flickering torches and sharp weapons. "How the heck did these guys sneak up on us?" the Corsair complained at the sight of a party of Vikings, of all people.

"No, no, not Vikings" the Doctor moaned, shifting so he was in front of Romana and Emily, "I'm not in the mood for Vikings".

A Viking with a red beard and large horns on his helmet informed them, "You're coming with us".

"No, we're not; and do you want to know why?" The Doctor ignored the angry mutterings of the Vikings, and put on his sonic sunglasses, gesturing to them. "On my face, right now, more advanced technology than your species will manage over the next nine million years" he boasted, in an attempt to intimidate them. The Vikings were singularly unimpressed…the leader reached out and snatched the glasses off his face, snapping them in half.

"Oh for"- Flavia rolled her eyes and bravely stepped towards the Viking chief. Before she could attempt to smooth things over, the Corsair primed his blaster and fired a shot off into the air, startling them all. "See that?" he asked smugly, "Unless you want to be on the receiving end of one of those blasts, I suggest you just keep walk- hey!" he yelled, struggling, as one of the Vikings lunged forward (moving surprisingly quickly for such a heavy set man) and prised the blaster from his fingers. "Give that back!" he snapped indignantly.

"Seize him!" the Chief commanded, "Seize all of them!"

The Doctor turned to the TARDIS, trying to open it and get them back inside – but two of the Vikings dragged him away, as they were dragging all the others away, and frogmarched them in single file through the forest. Flavia ended up behind the Corsair, with Clara behind her, and she glared so hard at the back of his head it might have begun to smoke. "Oh, this is just _peachy_. Well done, Corsair! Once again your utter lack of a sense of tact has _ruined everything_ ".

"What do you mean, 'again'?"

"You know what I meant" she snapped, "We could have dealt with this peacefully and sensibly, but _no,_ you just _had_ to bring out that stupid gun of yours!"

"I was trying to get them to leave us alone! How was I supposed to know they'd nick my blaster – which I will get back, by the way" he warned the Vikings, who paid no attention.

One of the Vikings who had captured Flavia inquired, "Chief, if these two are married should we leave the wife?"

"I'm not his wife!"

"Well, shut up, then" the Viking ordered bluntly. Flavia gaped at him – words could not express her indignation, to the point where she _did_ stop speaking, and resumed simply burning a hole through the Corsair's _thick, self-centred, weapons obsessed_ skull with her gaze.

/

All of their attempts to convince the Vikings that they weren't planning to attack failed; it turned out Vikings were incredibly stubborn. The longboat beached near a small settlement; a horn sounded and the other villagers came to greet their returning villagers…and stare curiously at the six manacled prisoners, who either looked resigned or annoyed. One girl in her late-teens, wearing boy's clothing, ran up to the trudging Vikings with a look of relief. "You're back! All of you! Are all of you back?" she asked worriedly.

"I suppose so, I haven't counted" the raid chief, who was known as Nollarr, replied a bit exasperatedly. He'd stuck the Corsair's blaster in his belt and was wearing half of the Doctor's sunglasses like an odd square eye-patch.

"I'm back!" one dark haired Viking, younger than the Chief, exclaimed happily, hugging the girl.

"I had a dream you'd all died" she told him, "It was so real, I thought I'd made it happen".

"Well, if it ever does, I'm sure you'll a find some way to blame yourself" Nollarr commented, tossing her the pieces of the Doctor's sonic sunglasses. He had no use for them and that girl was always looking for and thinking about odd things.

"I wish none of you had to go!" the girl lamented to the younger Viking, who might have been her father.

Emily was more concerned with how they were going to escape. "Dad, you _do_ have a plan, don't you?"

"Of course I have a plan" he insisted, for the umpteenth time.

"He's been saying that for two days straight now" Flavia grumbled.

"How did you expect to escape from a long boat? Jump off and swim in manacles?" asked the Corsair. Flavia glared at him and retorted, "We wouldn't have been _on_ the boat if it weren't for your"-

" _Children_ " Romana interjected, "Do you mind?"

"…Sorry" the two of them muttered in unison. Up ahead, the Doctor was walked past the girl who'd been given his sunglasses…or the pieces, anyway. He glanced at her, then stopped and stared for a moment, until the warriors pushed him on.

Behind him, Emily curiously inquired, "What was that about? Do you know her?"

"Never seen her before in my life" he answered.

"Then why were you staring?"

"I don't know. Nothing, probably. Too much time travel, it happens".

"What, you think you've seen her before?"

"Not exactly" he shrugged, "People talk about premonition as if it's something strange. It's not. It's just remembering in the wrong direction".

"Okay…so what _is_ the plan? We're all dying to hear".

"We meet the boss man and do the usual".

"You're going to pretend to do magic and convince them to make you the leader" Emily guessed…very accurately, as it turned out.

"...Essentially, yes" her father admitted.

They were stopped by the Vikings as Nollarr was greeting the elderly village Chieftain. "Father" he bowed, and the two men began to converse. "We have travelled far and fought"- Nollarr began.

" _That's_ his plan?" Flavia hissed, having heard it from Romana, "Doing parlour tricks for them?"

"Apparently" Romana shrugged. By this point she'd given up trying to convince the Doctor not to enact some of his plans…or things, as he used to call them. Perhaps eventually he'd learn that they would rarely work out the way he'd intended.

"He's gonna use the yo-yo again, isn't he?" Clara surmised, with a mock-long suffering sigh. Sure enough, the Doctor had managed to get out of his hand-cuffs…somehow…and taken a yellow yo-yo toy out of his pocket.

"Miracle, and much treasure"- Nollarr was saying. The Doctor tossed the manacles up into the air...being made of iron they quickly fell, striking the white bearded Elder in the chest. Immediately, swords and axes were drawn in anger, and Nollarr glared furiously at the Doctor. Flavia wished her hands weren't restrained so she could face-palm; there went any chance they had of convincing the Elder that they weren't a threat.

"How dare you attack our Chieftain!"

"I am very, very cross with you. I am very disappointed" the Doctor blustered, "I have taken human form to walk among you!"

"Who are you, old man?"

"Do you not recognise the sign of Odin?" the Doctor demanded, unleashing his secret weapon…the yellow yo-yo. Now Flavia _really_ wanted to face-palm; a sentiment shared by the rest of the time travellers.

"You are not Odin, and that is not Odin's sign".

"Oh, and you would know that how, exactly? Have you met Odin? Do you know what Odin looks like?"

"We know he doesn't look like _you_ " the Corsair snarked, "If you wanted an Odin, why didn't you ask me? I do a great Odin impression" he boasted. There was a sudden clap of thunder - with no storm clouds in sight – and the sound of a booming horn. A giant, clearly holographic face appeared in the clouds, a weathered visage with a winged helmet and a Virtual Reality style eye-piece. "Okay, I admit, that one is more impressive. Still not accurate, though".

"Oh, my people" the face bellowed, "I am Odin, and now your day of reward has finally dawned!"

"Do not believe this foolish trickery!" the Doctor shouted; he tried to flick the yo-yo back up the string, but it just stayed dangling there, stuck at the bottom. "It's supposed to do that" he insisted.

"Your mightiest warriors will feast with me tonight in the halls of Valhalla" declared 'Odin'. Five large armoured beings, with obviously alien weaponry, teleported into the village. The warriors went to face them, or accept their so-called reward, leaving the Time Quintet and Clara unguarded. The six of them backed away, now trying _not_ to draw attention to themselves…at least, the Doctor was; the others had already been doing that.

"Clara, stay still" Flavia warned her, not taking her eyes off the aliens.

"That's not really Odin, is it?"

"No, Clara, they're aliens".

"So this is an invasion".

"It's a harvest. They only want the mightiest warriors, remember? Everyone else will be left behind".

"We have to help them" Clara insisted.

Flavia sighed and said, "There's nothing we can do…Clara?" she looked over to see that Clara had rushed over to the girl from before, crouching down in front of her. "Clara, come back!"

"Have you still got the eye-patch thing?" Clara asked the girl urgently; she nodded and held the pieces up.

"Clara, what are you doing?!" the Doctor called when he turned and spotted his companion.

"Point it at my chains and think the word open. Say it with your mind" Clara instructed hastily. Several warriors had already been teleported away, including Nollarr; then one of the aliens scanned the two young women, and detected the advanced technology of the sunglasses.

"Clara, look out!" the Corsair called, rushing over as fast as he could in hand-cuffs. The girls were teleported away just as Clara's manacles unlocked; the alien scanned the Corsair as he approached, decided he fit the bill of 'mighty warrior', and teleported him away too. Then all the aliens and Viking warriors were gone, and the face of 'Odin' disappeared. Flavia stared in alarm at the spot where the Corsair had been standing… "What was he _thinking?_ "

/

The Corsair had, in fact, been hoping that the alien would 'harvest' him as well. He and the girls appeared in a cubed, metal chamber, lit by fluorescent lights. The other Vikings were already there, making the space a little cramped. "Welcome to Valhalla" greeted one of the Vikings, the same one who had hugged that girl.

"Mate, if you think this is Valhalla, then you've been whacked in the head one too many times" the Corsair informed him, before turning to Clara and the girl, who by now had gotten to their feet. "Clara, my sonic's in my left inside pocket, d'you mind?"

She quickly pulled out his sonic and unlocked his manacles; the Corsair looked at the young Viking girl and asked her, "What's your name?"

"Ashildr" she replied.

"Nice name. Oi!" he suddenly spun around and marched up Nollarr, who was prising the door open with his axe. Clara followed him, tugging Ashildr over as well. With both his hands on the handle, Nollarr could do nothing to stop the Corsair from plucking his blaster out of the Viking's belt. "I'll take that, thanks. If we're gonna get out of here alive, you'll want me to have it" he warned.

Nollarr stepped out into the passage beyond, and declared, "There is nothing to fear, strange warrior" Nollarr declared, boldly walking out into the passage beyond. Fans on each side of the room began to whirr… "We are Odin's chosen!"

Seconds later, the Viking raider was disintegrated in a burst of energy, his helmet and axe clattering to the floor. To make matters worse, there was a thudding sound and the wall behind them began to slide forwards. "The wall, it moves!"

The Corsair bit back a swear and swept his sonic over the room of death, then grabbed Clara's hand and shouted, "Run!"

He, Clara and Ashildr ran down the passage to the other door; some of the Vikings followed, but most futilely attempted to block or jam the advancing wall with their weapons and sheer bulk. "Hurry up, open it!" Clara cried, panicked.

"Working on it!" the Corsair snapped back, flashing the lock. Unfortunately, this meant he could no longer keep the disintegration beams deactivated…the fans started up again as soon as he'd unlocked the door. The Corsair scrambled out, Clara and Ashildr managed to get out (much to his relief), but the door slammed shut again before any of the Vikings could get through.

"Open it again!" Ashildr urged him.

"I'm trying! It's been deadlocked!" he growled in frustration, reaching for his blaster. Before he could simply shoot the lock, light flashed from beneath the door and they heard spine-chilling screams emanate from within…then everything grew deathly quiet. The Corsair thumped his fist on the door. It was too late.

/

Back on Earth, the villagers were trying to get their heads around what had just happened. "They took half the village" remarked one man, with a plaited blond beard.

"Yeah, and it was the good half" another complained.

"They went willingly to Valhalla, as would we all" a third Viking declared bravely.

"I wouldn't" the second replied, "Well, I _wouldn't._ I'm not good with heights".

"Oh, stop it!" the Doctor suddenly exclaimed, "All of you, stop it right now. Homo sapiens, you're an intelligent species. Stop lying to yourselves".

The third Viking glared at him warily. "Choose your words carefully, false Odin".

"Yes, I am a false Odin" the Doctor nodded, "That's exactly right, I lied. The big fella in the sky, he lied too. You all know it. Because what's the one thing that gods never do? Gods never actually show up! Guess what? You got raided. Guess what else? We lost two people who matter to us".

The Viking glared harder. "I lost someone too".

/

The Corsair, Clara and Ashildr were now in what looked like some sort of processing plant, with vials being filled with some sort of green liquid. They hunkered down behind one of the machines; Clara glanced at the Corsair and whispered out of the corner of her mouth, "Now what?"

He pressed a finger to his lips, warning them to keep quiet. He was about to crane his neck and see if the coast was clear, but then the voice of the fake 'Odin' called, "I know you're there. Come on out".

The three of them slowly emerged from behind the machine, holding their hands in the 'surrender' position. 'Odin' stared at the Corsair and inquired, "How did you escape?"

"Easy, I opened the door and stepped out. I wasn't expecting you to deadlock it, though I am pleased that you waited until my friends had gotten out as well".

"The maidens would have been spared either way".

"Ah, but I wouldn't have, would I?" the Corsair said knowingly, "Except that you've already scanned us all and you know we have access to advanced technology. Also, Clara here is wearing a spacesuit and you may have noticed the binary vascular system I have. We're not local, and we didn't come alone. Killing us would have started a fight – which believe me, you wouldn't have won" he informed 'Odin' coolly.

Before 'Odin' could reply, an armoured alien stomped forwards and handed him a vial of green liquid. "Is that medication or something?" asked Clara, trying to lighten the mood.

"Adrenaline" explained 'Odin', "Testosterone extracted from the finest warriors". He drank it in one gulp and said in satisfaction, "Ah, nectar!"

Clara grimaced slightly. "Okay, you mash up Vikings to make warrior juice, nice".

"They what?" asked Ashildr, confused and alarmed. She wasn't ignorant, she'd seen what that room did to Nollarr and it must have killed the other warriors too…but mashed up to make juice? She didn't understand.

"I'd have thought the Mire would have enough of that on their own" the Corsair remarked casually; if 'Odin' was surprised that he knew the name of their species, he didn't show it. "Why fake being a God?"

"What is a god but the cattle's name for farmer? What is heaven but the gilded door of the abattoir?"

"What you call 'farming', I call murdering. For _drugs_ " the Corsair scoffed, eyes narrowed.

Ashildr frowned. "I don't understand, what are drugs? What did these…Mire want with them?" she asked.

"They wanted a pick me up and they got it" he replied, without taking his eyes off of 'Odin', "Now I'm ordering you to leave. This planet is protected. There's plenty of adrenaline and testosterone out there in the universe, go and steal some of that".

"Wait" Ashildr interrupted, finally putting two and two together, "You mean that all our warriors were slain, that my uncle was slain, so that _he_ could feel good?" she demanded, glaring angrily at 'Odin', "You'll pay for that!"

"Ashildr, shut up" the Corsair ordered immediately; but the headstrong young Viking refused to listen.

"Do not silence me! This false god must pay for what he has done" she declared, boldly stepping forward. "I am a Viking. Ashildr, daughter of Einarr. You have mocked our gods. Killed our warriors. And we will crush you on the field of battle" she threatened.

'Odin' smiled wide and cheered, "That's better!"

The Corsair grabbed Ashildr by the shoulder and turned her to face him. "When I tell you to shut it, you shut it! They were about to _leave_!"

"You almost had me talking. Talk is for cowards".

"She lost her uncle, she's distressed. She doesn't know what she's talking about!"

"Nevertheless, I accept her challenge".

"We will crush you!" Ashildr repeated fiercely, pulling away from the Corsair's grasp.

"Ashildr, you're just making it worse!" Clara told her desperately.

"Shall we say this time tomorrow? Ten of my warriors versus the best of your village".

" _No"._

"Yes, and you will beg for mercy!"

'Odin' laughed. "I will send you back. You can inform your people of their impending destruction".

"Why are you doing this?" Clara demanded of Odin.

"Why else? The joy of war! Can't you see it on my face?" he asked, pressing a button. The humanoid face flickered and vanished, revealing a visage that rendered even the indignant, headstrong Ashildr speechless in horror. "Goodbye. I look forward to seeing you on the field of battle" he finished, before motioning to his followers to have them sent away.


	15. The Girl Who Died Pt 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

The Girl Who Died – Part Two

There was a flash of light; the Doctor looked up from his diary to see the Corsair, Clara and that Viking girl reappear. Romana hurried over to them, giving Clara a hug. "Oh, thank goodness you're back" she said, relieved.

The Viking man, who had introduced himself as Einarr, rushed over as well. "My child!" he cried, pulling Ashildr into his arms. Emily and Flavia hugged Clara as well, very pleased to see her safe and sound; she looked at the Doctor, who was hovering on the sidelines. He smiled awkwardly and gave her a thumbs up. "I'm not a hugger" he reminded her…but then he changed his mind, "Ahh, let's hug!" He briefly squeezed her hard enough to lift her off the ground, and then let go.

"I'm fine too, if anyone was wondering" the Corsair quipped, "Except that we've got ourselves a bit of a situation".

"Where are the others?" Einarr asked his daughter, who shook her head with a look of distress.

"I'm sorry, father" was all she could bring herself to say.

"I would hope so, considering you just started a war" the Corsair commented.

Einarr looked from him to Ashildr, frowning in bewilderment. "What?"

"I looked the aliens up in my two thousand year diary" the Doctor was saying to Clara, "They're called the"-

"The Mire, I know, the Corsair mentioned it" she nodded, before adding, "What are the Mire?"

"They're a warrior race, like the Daleks or Sontarons, one of the deadliest in the universe" the Corsair replied, "I ran into them a couple of times back in the day".

"Yes, but the good news is they're practical. They get what they want and go" the Doctor explained, looking hopefully at the other Time Lord. "You convinced them to leave Earth alone, didn't you? I knew you would" he remarked confidently.

The Corsair shook his head and replied, "Actually, no. I would have, if it weren't for Ashildr here declaring war on them".

All eyes turned to Ashildr, who shrank back a little under the barrage of questioning and somewhat accusing stares. Einarr wrapped an arm around his daughter's shoulders and guided her away from them, frowning over his shoulder at the Corsair for upsetting her. An awkward silence ensued, broken by Clara clearing her throat and remarking "Um…can someone help me out of this spacesuit?"

/

The remaining villagers and the time travellers gathered in a shadowy longhouse, lit only with candle stubs burning from cartwheel chandlers, hung from the ceiling. "They're coming here tomorrow, ten of them, to kill everybody in the village" Clara warned them all.

Einarr looked at his daughter and questioned, "Ashildr, is this true?"

The poor girl clearly felt very guilty at what her impulsive pride had done. "It's all my fault" she replied in dismay.

"Not every misfortune that befalls this village is down to you" Einarr tried to reassure her; from the way she shifted uncomfortably, the attempt at comfort didn't quite reach home.

It didn't help that the Corsair felt the need to point out, "In this case, it kind of is…"

"Oh, give it a rest" Flavia snapped in exasperation. _First he treats me like c***, and now he's picking on Ashildr? I swear, there's something wrong with him._

Rather than argue back, the Corsair just sighed and muttered an apology. Einarr decided not to pursue it; they had other things to worry about. "She thinks she brings us bad luck" he explained for the benefit of the strangers who claimed they could help defeat these…Mire.

"What bad luck?" the Doctor asked, sounding genuinely curious, "You haven't had any bad luck. You're fine".

A particularly stocky Viking with a limp moustache frowned and protested, "We are about to be attacked by"-

"Yes, yes, yes, yes" the Doctor waved him off, "With a whole day to spare! So leave! Hop it, take off! Into the woods, split up, hide. Hang about there for a week, come back home, make puddings and babies. That's basically what you do, isn't it?"

This suggestion was met only with blank stares and frowns. "We cannot leave this village" Einarr insisted stubbornly.

"Why not?" asked Emily, "It won't be forever" she pointed out.

"Precisely" the Doctor nodded in agreement, "Of course you can. Just pick a direction. Fly like a bird, run like a nose. That's probably a Viking saying, I haven't checked that".

"Dad, that's not a saying in _any_ culture".

"Less of the sass, young lady" he said, pointing a warning finger at her.

"No" the stocky man declared, "We will fight!"

There was a chorus of "Ayes!" from the rest of the Vikings.

"Well, _I_ could probably take out a few" the Corsair remarked a bit arrogantly, "But in case you've forgotten, the Mire nicked all your warriors. So it'll be ten deadly alien warriors up against a bunch of farmers, fishermen and desperate housewives. No offence, but I think my money's on the Mire".

Einarr suddenly stood up, tired of this stranger besmirching their honour. He pulled out a leather skin and tossed it onto the floor; an assortment of bladed weapons tumbled out. "We are Vikings!" he declared proudly.

" _Aye_!"

 _Now I see where Ashildr gets it from_ the Corsair noted. The Doctor looked around at them all and inquired, "Okay, tell me this. How many people here have actually held a sword in battle? By a show of hands?" he added. The villagers murmured and looked at one another, but none of them actually put their hands up. "Mm-hmm. Yeah, baby" the Doctor smirked, raising his own hand. The Corsair raised his, as did Clara and Romana. Emily's parents hadn't let her use a sword yet, and Flavia…

Well, she hadn't used a sword much because…because whenever someone attacked her with one, the Corsair would almost always be there with a sword of his own, defending her. _I suppose I ought to learn to defend myself now…now that the Corsair and I probably won't be on missions together._ Why did that thought make her sad?

The Doctor picked up a broadsword from the pile on the floor. "The Mire are coming for each and every one of you" he warned the villagers, pointing the tip of the sword at them. Quite a few of them flinched back, even though the sword was nowhere near them. He threw it down again – it clattered horribly – and asked, "So what you going to do? Raise crops at them?"

"If necessary" the stocky man replied; he obviously wasn't the sharpest knife in the belt, so to speak.

"I think he was being sarcastic" another Viking muttered to him.

"We're not cowards" Einarr insisted bravely, "We do not run. A death in battle is a death with honour!"

"Aye!" the third chorus died off at the sound of a baby, somewhere in the village, beginning to cry.

The Doctor gave Einarr a hard look and asked him bluntly, "Do babies die with honour?"

Romana listened to the baby's cries in the ensuing silence and murmured, "She's afraid. She wants her mother to hold her because she's afraid".

"Err, they speak Baby" Clara explained to the confused Vikings.

"She wants her mother to look at her" Romana continued, her eyes closed; a soft smile played on her lips. "She thinks her mother is beautiful. She wants to sing for her mum…she's scared, but she still wants her mum to feel better". Emily edged closer and gave her own mother a hug…in the distance, they could hear the baby begin to laugh a little, almost crying and laughing at the same time.

"Babies think that laughter is singing. Did you know that?" the Doctor asked the villagers. "We applaud your courage, but we deplore your stupidity. And we will mourn your deaths, which will be terrifying, painful, and without honour" he told them solemnly. Then he turned on his heel and walked towards the door; Ashildr scrambled from her seat and hurried to intercept him.

"Stay" she pleaded, "You could help us. I know you could".

"We told you to run. That's all the help you need. And that's all the help you're getting" he replied, before walking out of the building.

Ashildr's face fell; she quickly turned to the five remaining strangers, in particular the dark haired man who had saved her life. "Help us, please" she begged them, "I'm sorry. I know I've made a terrible mistake, but I can't fix this on my own".

"Oh, we'll help, Ashildr" Romana assured her, placing a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder, "And so will the Doctor. He just…needs a bit of persuading. Clara, could you talk to him?"

"Me? Won't you listen more to you?"

"Yes, and he needs to do this because it's the right thing to do, not because his wife asked him nicely".

Clara nodded, understanding, and went out to talk to the Doctor. After she'd left, Ashildr looked up at the Corsair with a hopeful, near desperate expression on her face. He sighed and ran a hand over his own face, and admitted "Okay, Ashildr. We'll help you defeat the Mire…somehow. But first, I'm going to need those eye pieces back".

/

He must have heard or sensed her coming, because when Clara stepped up beside the Doctor, he told her, "The earth is safe, humanity is not in danger. It's just one village".

"Just one village?" she asked sceptically; it wasn't like the Doctor to say 'just one anything'. No matter how much he tried to deny it, everything and everyone mattered to him. That was why he could never just walk away, not really.

He looked at her then. "Suppose we saved it by some miracle. No TARDIS, no sonic"- Clara refrained from interrupting to mention that Ashildr still had the pieces – "Just one village defeats the Mire. What then? Word gets around. Earth becomes a target of strategic value, and the Mire come back. And God knows what else. Ripples into tidal waves until everybody dies" he explained. It wasn't that he didn't want to help; but sometimes, the few had to be sacrificed for the sake of the many. It was a choice he knew all too well, and he hated making it, but it had to be done.

The baby cried again. "What's she saying?"

"She's afraid" he told her, "Babies sense danger. They have to". He closed his eyes and listened, murmuring aloud what the infant was saying. "Mother, I hear thunder. Mother, I hear shouting. You are my world, but I hear other worlds now. Beyond the unfolding of your smile, is there other kindness? I'm afraid. Will they be kind? The sky is crying now…I want to see the fishes, mother".

Clara didn't have half a clue what any of that really meant, but she did know one thing. No matter what, the Doctor couldn't walk away when there were children crying. She could see him considering, and smiled when the cries ceased, and placed a hand on his cheek. He opened his eyes and looked down at her inquisitively. "You just decided to stay" she told him with a smile, "The baby stopped crying".

Romana stepped up to them just then. "We're all on board, love" she told her husband, "And I think you're going to need these. The Corsair fixed them" she explained, sliding his now repaired sonic sunglasses onto his face.

The Doctor smiled happily and gave her a kiss. "Remind me to thank the Corsair. Well then, let's make some warriors out of this bunch. How hard could it be?"

/

A little bit later, the remaining men in the village (of which there were few) were standing in a line, holding wooden staves. The Doctor walked up and down the line, playing at being a drill sergeant. The Corsair had offered to be the drill sergeant, but the Doctor decided that he'd probably do it too well and make them all faint. "So, when I say move, you move" the Doctor informed them, "When I say jump, you say how high? Unless it's across a gap of some kind which, of course, means you jump horizontally. Yes, what is it, Lofty?" he asked one blond Viking.

"Sorry, my name's not actually Lofty, it's Bro"-

"No, it's not, it's Lofty" the Doctor insisted, "I've got too much to think about without everybody having their own names, so it's Lofty. You're Lofty, you're Daphne, you're Noggin the Nog, ZZ Top, and you're, err, Heidi. So, we'll try that again. Lofty, what is it?"

"Sorry, sir, it's just, why aren't we practising with _real_ swords?"

"Yes, perhaps you'd like to field this one, Limpy?" the Doctor asked the stocky man, who was sitting to one side and tying a bandage around his knee.

"Because we can't be trusted with them" he answered gloomily.

"That's right, yes" the Doctor nodded, "You'll be given your real swords back when you can prove that you can wave them around without lopping bits off yourselves". He frowned and inquired, "Heidi, why are your eyes closed?"

"Sorry, sir. Just not that good with the sight of blood" the man explained, blindly gesturing at Limpy. The Doctor stared at him incredulously, and looked at the Corsair, who could only shrug.

"No, of course you're not" he sighed. This was turning out to be more difficult than he'd thought…stupid Murphy's Law. Perhaps he should let the Corsair go full 'drill sergeant nasty' on them…maybe they'd get so scared, they would change their minds and flee like he'd told them they ought to.

/

The womenfolk were watching from a safe distance, feeling a mounting sense of doom. Not only had many of them lost their husbands, now they had to rely on strangers and inexperienced – or to put it less kindly, incompetent – menfolk to defend them against horrors from the sky. Romana and Flavia did their best to ease their concerns, whilst Emily and Clara stood with Ashildr, watching the Doctor and the Corsair attempt to train people who most emphatically were not warriors.

"Swords against those creatures; that won't work, will it?" Ashildr asked, more rhetorically than anything.

"Don't worry, Ashildr. My dad has faced much worse odds than this" Emily told her confidently.

Clara nodded in agreement and remarked, "He's just warming up. He hasn't got a plan yet. But he will have, and it will be spectacular". At least she hoped so; from the way the 'defenders' were flailing their wooden staves at each other like children playing with sticks, it would have to be.

Of course, the Doctor had never been the most patient of people; after an hour and a half of so called 'training', he held his sword high and whistled through his fingers for attention. "Enough theory; I'm handing out the real swords" he announced decisively; the Corsair immediately sensed that things would not end well. He casually relayed this nugget of opinion to the Doctor and suggested that they probably weren't ready to wield sharp deadly objects. "Well, we're sort of short on time, Corsair" the Doctor pointed out, before going off to give Lofty, Heidi, Einarr (or Chuckles) and the rest their weapons.

Chaos ensued. It was going well, all things considered, until half way through the training…the next thing they knew, the village horn was booming, a thatch was on fire, and everyone was carrying buckets of water from the nearby cove. "Well, that could have gone better" the Doctor admitted, as he and the Corsair sat on barrels and watched the anarchy unfold.

Heidi lay spread –eagled on the ground nearby. He groaned and sat up, rubbing his head. "Have a nice nap?" the Corsair asked sarcastically. Just then, Clara and Emily came over; they'd wanted to help put out the fire, but the rest of the village had already almost doused the flames. Emily got the impression this wasn't the first time they'd had to put out a blaze, accidental or otherwise.

"What happened?" asked Clara, gesturing to the Viking still sitting on the ground.

"The Big Bang, dinosaurs, bipeds, and a mounting sense of futility" the Doctor replied vaguely.

"If you want specifics, though; Einarr, aka Chuckles, accidentally hit Lofty over the head with his sword" the Corsair explained further, "Luckily, Lofty had a helmet on so he wasn't killed, but there was still a bit of blood involved. Heidi saw it and…did that" he sighed, as Heidi promptly fainted again, "Except the first time, he knocked a lit torch onto some hay, and fire spooked a horse, which kicked open a gate, which let the cows escape…and so and so forth. I'm really starting to see why the Mire didn't bother trying to kidnap these guys".

/

Later that night, the Vikings held a grand feast in the Meeting Hall, as part of a tradition to bring good fortune upon themselves from the gods. The Doctor and the others were guests of honour, plied with tankards of ale, plates of fish, chicken and mutton, wild potatoes and onions. It was actually quite delicious, but as the night wore on and the drunken villagers grew more rowdy, all but one of the six time travellers sneaked away from the festivities for some fresh air and quiet.

Clara found the Doctor and Emily standing together outside the Hall, the Time Lord's arm around his daughter's shoulders. Clara stepped up beside them and looked up at the clouds; thunder rolled out of them, a strange clanging thunder that made her think of giants smashing war-hammers onto mountains. "Weird sounding thunder" she commented quietly, as if reluctant to disturb the peace as much as the feast and the thunder were.

"Um, it's not thunder, Clara" said Emily, "It's the Mire forging weapons. Dad says they want us to hear them".

"Well?" Clara looked at the Doctor expectantly.

"Well, Heidi faints at the mention of blood, not just the sight any more. He's actually upgraded his phobia. Chuckles"-

"His name's Einarr, dad" Emily interjected.

"No, it's Chuckles" the Doctor insisted stubbornly, "He questions every single order you give him, which is going to be a little bit difficult, a little bit tricky, in the heat of battle".

"You know, we're still waiting to hear what your real plan is" Clara remarked, nodding to Emily as well.

Emily looked up at her father and added trustingly, "You always have a plan, dad. Or at the very least a 'thing' – they're like plans, but with more greatness" she grinned.

He sighed and admitted, "Teaching them to fight, that's the only plan I've got".

"Turning them into fighters?" Clara frowned, "That's not like you".

"Yeah, I used to believe that too".

"You still should" say Emily, "Cos it's not you. You're not a warrior, dad, that's why the Mire didn't kidnap you. Why do you want to be like them?" she asked, not accusing but simply curious.

A rare, genuine smile crossed the Doctor's lips as he looked at his daughter, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead. "Oh, darling; I'm glad _you_ still believe in me".

Emily beamed, and Clara smiled softly. " _I_ still believe in you, Doctor" she murmured, "And I know you can do better than this. You must know that it doesn't matter how well you train them, it's not going to make a difference".

"But they won't leave" Emily sighed, "We tried to persuade some of them, remember? They want to fight for their home".

"They'll die fighting with honour" the Doctor added solemnly, "To a Viking, that's all the difference in the world".

"A good death?" Clara frowned, "Is that the best they can hope for?"

"A good death is the one thing anyone can hope for, unless you happen to be immortal" the Doctor countered.

Just then, Ashildr emerged from the Hall, nearly walking into Clara by accident. "Sorry" she quickly apologised, for both the blunder…and everything else her foolish pride had caused.

Clara smiled reassuringly and replied, "No problem".

"Goodnight, Ashildr" Emily smiled at her. Ashildr smiled back and walked off into the torch lit gloom.

"Oh, yes, night" the Doctor called after her, when his daughter nudged him. "Happy now?" he asked her.

Emily smirked a bit. "You've taken a liking to Ashildr, haven't you, dad?"

"No, I haven't".

"It's okay if you have" Clara commented, "She made a mistake, but she's really nice. You should fight for her".

"I don't even know her".

"Why don't you fight for me, then?" asked Emily, "Or mum. You always say you'd fight for us. I don't mean 'fight', fight…just try harder. There's always a way out, you always said that too".

"Oh joy, I'm being lectured by my daughter and companion. You two need to get hobbies…not boyfriends, though".

"Who better to lecture you?" Clara countered, "And besides, you guys _are_ my hobby. Emily's right; you need to try harder, Doctor, think harder; because otherwise, tomorrow is going to be a bloodbath".

"These people all died hundreds of years before you were born" he pointed out.

"That doesn't mean they have to die now, like this" Emily reminded him. She gave a frustrated sigh and admitted, "I wish _I_ could think of how to save them, but I've no idea how to stop something like the Mire. That's why we need you, dad".

"Yes, you do need me" he agreed; for a brief moment, Emily and Clara thought they'd won, that they'd convinced him. "I have a duty of care. I ought to take a longboat and bring you all safely back to the TARDIS, and let history, or nature, or time take its course. That's what I ought to do".

"Doing what you ought to is _boring_ ".

"And we would never want you to do that".

"What if something happens to you?" he asked, "I can't stop thinking about that".

"Well, stop thinking about us, and start thinking about them, because you're missing something" Clara insisted.

"What?"

"How you're going to win" she explained, "You always miss it, right up until the last minute. So put down your sword, stop playing soldier and look for it. Start winning, Doctor. It's what you're good at" she insisted, before turning to Emily and suggesting, "Shall we find your mum, see if she has any ideas?"

"Yeah, okay"; Emily reached up on tiptoes to press a brief kiss to her dad's cheek. Then the two young women hurried away, leaving a pensive Doctor alone with his thoughts. A few minutes later, he walked in the opposite direction, towards where Ashildr had gone.

/

Whilst one conversation carried on outside the Meeting Hall, another was being held between Romana and Flavia, in one of the dwellings that the villagers had set aside for their guests. The accommodations were somewhat Spartan, but it was better than being chained up in a cell. Romana came looking for her fellow Time Lady, finding her sitting on one of the cots, reading a book she must have tucked into her coat – the Doctor wasn't the only one of them with bigger on the inside pockets.

"Are you alright?" she asked, sitting down on the cot opposite Flavia, who gave her a quizzical look. Romana clarified, "I've been meaning to talk to you. I just can't help noticing that things are still rather awkward between you and, uh…" Romana trailed off awkwardly when Flavia frowned at her.

"What do you expect?" Flavia muttered, staring down at her book without seeing the words on the page.

Romana winced apologetically. "I'm sorry; I promise I'm not trying to pressure you. If you need time, then you need time…I just don't want you to put it off for so long that it just gets harder".

"Put what off, exactly?"

"…Talking to the Corsair" said Romana; she'd thought it was obvious. "I know it's the last thing you want to do"-

"It is".

"Yes, but do you really want to have this…elephant there whenever you're in a room together?"

"Why not?" she shrugged disinterestedly, "He seems intent on pretending there is no elephant".

"All the more reason why you should bring his attention to it" Romana countered. She frowned slightly and couldn't help but ask, "Is that why you haven't discussed it with him, because you're waiting for him to come and talk to you?"

Flavia looked up from her book at that point. "Romana, if the Corsair wanted to discuss the elephant in the room with me, I'm sure he would have done so already. He could have done so right after he created it, but he didn't".

"He might be waiting for the same reason you are, though".

"Why are you so being so insistent about this?"

"Well, because I care about you, of course! I hate to see you burying something that's hurting you".

There was a long and telling pause. "I'm not hurt" Flavia said finally, "Besides, the Corsair and I have had plenty of falling outs before. Every other time, we just stayed out of each other's way until it all blew over. Why should this be any different?"

"You know why" Romana told her, "What happened between you two; that's not something that can just 'blow over'. You can't put off discussing it forever".

"No offence, Romana, but I don't think you're really one to talk. You and the Doctor hardly ever fight; that man worships the ground you walk on".

"None taken…and we do fight, actually. We just tend to do it in private…and we patch things up quickly. We'll argue, tell each other exactly what we think, and go back a day or so later to discuss things more calmly. That's what's worrying me about this, Flavia; I hate to think you might be forming a grudge against the Corsair, especially since the two of you are usually so close".

"Close?" asked Flavia, with an incredulous stare, "I wouldn't call us bickering and him driving me up the wall most of the time 'being close'".

"Even best friends can bicker" Romana smiled, "And I don't think you bicker as much as you say. Usually you're just rolling your eyes at his comments and really, we _all_ do that. Besides, that isn't what I mean. You and he work well together; you might disagree, but you still manage to get the task done. Be honest, in all the years we've been travelling, all the years he stuck with you when he could have easily gone off on his own every time…has he ever let you down before?"

Once again, Flavia was silent for a long time, staring at the same spot on the page and rubbing her arm uncomfortably. Romana waited patiently, and at last, Flavia reluctantly admitted "No…he's never done anything like this before…which really makes it worse, you know".

"I think maybe you're looking at this the wrong way".

"How do you mean?"

Romana breathed out slowly, thinking of how best to word it. "I'm not saying he wasn't wrong; he shouldn't have told you he was attracted to you and then just left like he did...that being said, if he kept this a secret for so long, he must have had a good reason".

"I already told you his reason. He thought I was going to say no, so he never bothered".

"Do you really think that's the full story?" Romana responded, "And if it is, think about it; he kept his feelings secret, for centuries, because he thought you wouldn't be interested. He respects you, Flavia, and he kept your relationship platonic even though he wanted to take it further".

Flavia shifted. "I…well, yes…to be fair; I suppose he does have a sense of decency and…honour...i still wish he hadn't told me anything. I mean…how am I supposed to deal with news like that? What am I supposed to think?"

"Well…what _do_ you think?" asked Romana, "How do you feel about it?"

"I just said I didn't know" Flavia pointed out, before sighing, "If you must know…at first I was just shocked. I still am…I suppose I am a little bit flattered. After all, it's nice to hear someone finds you attractive…I feel uncertain, because it was so out of nowhere…I mean, he'd said before that he thought I was pretty, but I had no idea he was attracted to me…like that…which is part of the problem, you see.

"After all these years of being friends, to find out that he's been harbouring this…" Flavia blushed, and then shook her head. "Oh, honestly, I don't know why I'm being coy, we're both adults. I suppose what I'm trying to say is…hmm...perhaps you're right. Perhaps I should be talking about this with him" she admitted at last.

Romana smiled in relief. "I'm glad to hear that; do you want to talk to him now, or-?"

"Oh, no, not now" Flavia shook her head quickly, "There's still some things I need to work out…you've given me a lot to think about" she smiled weakly, before adding, "But I promise, and I mean it this time, that as soon as this whole sorry business with the Mire is over, and I've worked out my own thoughts and feelings…I'll talk to him the first chance I get".

The two of them stood up and embraced; there was a knock at the door, and Emily came in, followed by Clara. "Hi mum, hi Flavia" she greeted, coming over to give her a mother a hug. "We've been trying to get dad to stop playing around and think of a plan, but Clara reckons we should work on a back-up just in case he spends too long brooding" she explained.

Romana chuckled and suggested, "Okay, but why don't we talk about it outside? Flavia just needs some time to herself…oh, but Emily, do you mind rooming with her for the night?"

"No, mum".


	16. The Girl Who Died Pt 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: Sorry this took so long; I've been feeling unmotivated lately. Also, if you saw it update but then couldn't find the chapter, I deleted it so I could add on a bit more at the end.

The Girl Who Died – Part Three

Ashildr stood in her dwelling, brandishing a wooden stave at a shadow cast by the light of a torch. "So, we meet again, Fake Odin" she glared at her 'opponent', "Valhalla burns around you, your army is destroyed and now it is time for you to die!"

With that, she stabbed at a wood and thatch replica of the fake Odin, the 'Mire General' as she'd overheard the Corsair call him. Her attack was victorious…of course, the model wasn't exactly giving her much of a fight. Someone cleared their throat behind her and she jumped, spinning around to see the Doctor standing in the doorway. "How long have you been standing there?" she demanded, embarrassed and defensive.

He didn't even seem to notice her discomfort, walking into the room blithely and pointing at the model. "What's that? Is that a puppet? Oh, I love puppets!"

Ashildr looked sheepish. "I make puppets sometimes, when I'm…"

"Frightened?" he guessed.

"When the raiding parties go out, I make up stories about their battles" she explained.

"Because if you make up the right story, then you think it will keep them safe and they'll all come home" the Doctor finished, "That's okay. You're not the first person to ever have done that".

"Why are you here?" she asked curiously. She really hoped it wasn't to rub in her face what a terrible mistake she'd made.

"I'm looking for something I'm missing. What do you think our chances are tomorrow?"

"We will be cut down like corn. By this time tomorrow, every single one of us will be dead" she replied solemnly.

"Yeah" he murmured, picking up a tome and briefly leafing through it, before setting it down and remarking, "You could go".

"There's nowhere for me except here. This is my place. The sky, the hills, the sea, the people… Is there nowhere like that for you?" she asked, "And your family?"

"Oh, we like a nice view as much as anyone" the Doctor shrugged.

"But…?"

"We can't wait for the next one".

"I pity you".

"I will mourn for you" he countered, "I know which I'd prefer".

"You think they're all idiots, don't you?"

"What, you mean the rest of the universe, with a few exceptions? Basically, yes, I do".

"But they're kind and brave, and strong, and I love them".

"Good, good, but that won't save you".

"I've always been different" Ashildr admitted with a sigh, "All my life I've known that. The girls all thought I was a boy. The boys all said I was just a girl. My head is always full of stories. I know I'm strange. Everyone knows I'm strange. But here I'm loved. You tell me to run to save my life. I tell you that leaving this place would be death itself" she declared firmly.

Einarr appeared in the open doorway and strode over to his daughter, ignoring the Doctor. He placed his hands on her shoulders and sadly told her, "I cannot keep you safe. I do not have the strength. But I will try to till the last beat of my heart". He pulled her into a tight embrace; the Doctor hovered awkwardly, not sure whether he should give them privacy or not. He could hear that baby girl crying again, and then the Corsair stepped into the room, pulling up short at the sight of the hugging father and daughter.

Einarr pulled away, his eyes just tinged with tears, and looked over at the two Time Lords with a suspicious frown. "If either of you seek to mock us in this moment…" he began warningly. The Corsair held his hands up in a pacifying, 'I surrender' gesture and the Doctor quickly shook his head.

"No. No. No, you go ahead and you cry all you like" he encouraged, "Speaking of crying, is that baby getting closer?" He went to the doorway to peek out; the Corsair stepped forward and looked at Ashildr.

"I just came to…to say sorry, for giving you such a hard time earlier" he told her, "I, uh, messed up myself recently and…well, the point is I shouldn't have taken it out on you. So…bygones?" he asked hopefully, holding out a hand to shake.

Ashildr glanced at her father, before reaching out and shaking the Corsair's hand, accepting his apology. From the doorway, the Doctor called "Why has Lofty stolen a baby?"

"It's his child" she explained, wondering why he'd assume the man had kidnapped a baby.

"Oh. Where's he taking her?"

"The boathouse" replied Ashildr, "He takes her to the boathouse when she won't settle. She likes the fish".

"Good for her" the Corsair murmured, before stepping around Ashildr and walking up to her puppet. "Did you make this?" he asked her, and she nodded.

"It's brilliant, isn't it?" the Doctor asked with a grin.

"Yeah, it's a pretty good likeness. Think you can whip up a few more of these?" he asked, half-jokingly, "Maybe we can trick the Mire into thinking there's more of us than there actually are".

"Would that fool them?" Einarr asked urgently.

The Corsair hesitated; he thought it was obvious he'd just been kidding. "I think they might be too smart for that" he pointed out, before considering, "Then again, they do have that virtual reality filter in their helmets…"

"What did you just say?" the Doctor demanded suddenly, rushing over and pushing past Einarr to stare at his fellow Time Lord.

"Uh, I said the Mire have virtual reality filters in their helmets. They use it for training simulations and the same images can be transmitted from one helmet to every other…oh. Oh!"

"Yes, oh!" the Doctor beamed, throwing his hands up, "Can we get one?"

In response, the Corsair began rummaging in his pockets. A thoroughly confused Ashildr inquired, "I don't understand, what is it?"

"I've found what I've been missing" the Doctor replied happily. Then the Corsair pulled something from his pocket with a triumphant grin; a metal disc. "What is that?" Einarr asked curiously.

"No time!" the Doctor insisted, "Corsair, you're a genius, and I don't say that about just anyone. Fill them in" he instructed, before rushing from the hut, shouting. "Romana, Emily! Clara!"

Ashildr and Einarr turned to the Corsair, silently demanding an explanation. He tossed the metal disc in his hands and simply told them, "This is our ticket to winning that battle, but we're going to need help. Who's the blacksmith?"

"It's Lof – I mean, Broderick" said Ashildr.

"The baby guy? Okay, Einarr, go to Lofty slash Broderick and tell him to meet the Doctor and I at the forge. Ashildr, those strange suits Clara and Flavia were wearing? Go and fetch it" he instructed. She nodded and ran off; Einarr hesitated, not sure if he believed these strangers had a plan. Yet what choice did he have but to trust them? He just hoped they wouldn't let him and his village down.

/

They all gathered at the forge, setting Broderick to work smelting and linking together chains of metal and horseshoes. They laid out Clara and Flavia's suits and with the help of a sharp knife, began to take them apart. "We need to pull out all the wiring, that stringy stuff, from the spacesuits" the Doctor explained, "We can use it to conduct an electric charge through the chains that Lofty here is making".

At the mention of electricity, the Vikings in the group stared at him in bewilderment. "Stop looking confused!" he admonished, "Look happy! Winning is all about looking happier than the other guy. Always walk briskly, makes you a moving target. And talk with confidence, even if you're terrified. Act as if you know their plan, and sometimes, if you're very lucky, they'll actually tell you it. Speaking of plans, Ashildr?"

"Yes?"

"This is it; this is your chance to make things right. To make a story that will blow the Mire's minds. You'll have to pull an all-nighter, are you up to that?"

"I'll do whatever it takes" Ashildr nodded resolutely, "But, uh, I'm not sure what you're asking me to do".

The Doctor grinned excitedly and told her, "I need you to make a monster".

/

As dawn approached, the villagers gathered and in the light of torches, the Doctor explained the plan. "…Then we deploy the anvil. Now, at this stage, getting one of their helmets is key. We get a helmet, and this is over. Then we can mop up the rest using Ashildr's monstrosity".

Ashildr pulled on a rope and a cloth was tugged aside to reveal…a less than impressive 'monster'.

"That is rubbish" Clara murmured to Emily, who shrugged.

"I think that's the point" she remarked.

/

The next day, Odin and his ten warriors teleported down from their spaceship and marched through the seemingly deserted village. They heard laughter coming from the meeting hall and marched in, bursting through the door…only to find the villagers playing horseshoe toss and dancing. Insulted by this ignorance of their might, the Mire marched further into the room; they didn't notice Broderick and the Corsair sneak up behind them and toss wired horseshoes onto the aerials sticking out of their armoured 'backpacks'.

A grinning Doctor twirled his wife and dipped her, and then noticed the Mire and their irritated leader. "Hey, hello, hi!" he greeted, wandering over, "I'm the Doctor, this is Romana. It's lovely to meet you face to, err, convincing hologram. You could always go 'zzz' and get rid of it, no? No, on second thoughts, don't. That, that, that suits you" he rambled.

Odin glared at what he believed to be a thin old man and a weak woman, and declared "It is time to fight".

"No, no, no" the Doctor shook his head, "We decided against that. We thought we'd just have a party!" The villagers cheered, shaking their fists in the air.

"Let me put it another way. You fight or you die".

"Where's your sense of honour?" Romana challenged him, "As I'm sure your scanners are telling you, everyone here is unarmed. Would you really want to engage in such an unfair battle?"

"It wouldn't be the first time" Odin sneered. He was about to order his warriors to attack, and cut them down; a horseshoe hit one Mire's armour with a clang, bringing the horseshoes and wires to their attention. The Mire's gaze followed the wires and metal chains up to the ceiling and the corners of the hall, where the wires and chains were wrapped around the cartwheel candelabras and the posts of the upper level.

The Doctor shouted, "Now, girls!"

Up on the mezzanine, at the two nearest corners, Clara and Emily touched wires together with gloved hands. Electricity zapped down the metal to the Mire, electrocuting them – and throwing the whole room into chaos. Romana and the Doctor quickly ushered the villagers away from the angered Mire, four of which had teleported back to the ship to escape the electricity. "Run, run, run-run-run-run!" the Doctor shouted urgently, before adding to Romana, "That's four down, six left".

"Let's hope it goes down further" she remarked.

"GO!" Odin roared, sending his Mire into battle; the tank like armoured aliens stomped forward with thundering steps, their armour clanking and weapons raised menacingly. The villagers ducked behind upturned tables, shrinking back from the threatening creatures; up on the balcony, Emily and Clara ducked as one of the Mire turned and fired up at them.

At the sight of his daughter being attacked, the Doctor yelled, "Magnet!" Up on the other side of the mezzanine, Flavia pulled a lever; a series of electrified chains revolved rapidly around a suspended barrel, forming a makeshift electromagnet. The now magnetised anvils rang with metallic _thunks_ as the Mire's weapons were yanked out of their grasps and flew to the ceiling. Then their helmets were pulled off; Romana grimaced a bit at the sight of them, they were quite ugly aliens, with large eyes and needle sharp teeth like a deep sea angler fish.

"Turn it off!" she called up to Flavia; the Corsair had moved around to their side of the hall and helped the Doctor catch and carry one of the Mire's heavy helmets. Romana grabbed a fallen weapon, as did Clara when she, Emily and Flavia hurried down the ladder to the ground.

"Don't move!" warned Clara, aiming the weapon at the Mire, "Everybody out!"

The villagers wasted no time in running behind the Mire, who were preoccupied in trying to get to their weapons, and escaping through the door. The Corsair pulled out his blaster and sent a few shots at the Mire. "Come on, you freaks, have a real fight!" he taunted, covering the villagers escape. The Mire picked up their weapons and fired back, whilst the rest of the Time Quintet and Clara, hid in a side room. The Doctor took Romana's offered sonic, since they hadn't gotten around to fixing his glasses, and began fiddling with the inside of the helmet they'd nicked.

"How's it coming?" asked Clara anxiously, knowing that they didn't have much time even with the Corsair distracting them. Flavia was worried about the same thing…she wasn't worried for the Corsair, if he wanted to put himself in danger just to show off…buy them time or protect the villagers…well, that was all his problem…wasn't it?

"He's reversing the polarity of the neutron flow" Romana answered half-jokingly, just knowing that was what he would probably say.

The Doctor grinned at her briefly and commented, "I bet that means something, it sounds great. Ashildr!" he called, and the young woman sat down on a chair, wearing a nervous expression. "Are you ready?" he asked her, holding the Mire helmet.

"I'm scared" she admitted fearfully; Emily stepped forward and gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"You'll be fine; just do what you do best" she smiled encouragingly. Ashildr managed a small smile back, just before the helmet slipped over her head. It was heavy, but she held it in place and let her imagination take over, watching what she was picturing come to life on the screen in curious fascination.

Outside in the main hall, the Mire and the Corsair were at a stand-off…when suddenly, the doors of the hall crashed to the floor. A scaly, fanged beast slithered in, hissing and screeching; it lunged at the Corsair, who scrambled away and backed up along the wall, ignored by the Mire. Then the creature stretched out its neck and snapped at Odin and his warriors. "What is this beast?" he demanded, "It's impossible!"

The Corsair reached the side room door just as it opened, and his friends stepped out to watch the spectacle. "Withdraw, withdraw!" two of the six remaining Mire intoned, teleporting back to the ship.

"Stand and fight!" Odin snarled furiously. The wyrm continued its attack; the blasts from the Mire's weapons did nothing to deter it.

"Withdraw" the third Mire intoned.

"And don't come back!" Emily called after them.

"Cowards!" yelled Odin.

"Withdraw".

"Withdraw".

The last of the Mire retreated, leaving Odin alone against the ferocious beast. "You can stop now, Ashildr, they've gone" Emily called over her shoulder. Through Odin's eye-piece, he saw the wyrm flicker with static, and become merely a wooden long boat on rollers, being pushed and controlled by the villagers; who quickly surrounded him with swords and spears, aiming at his neck.

"What trickery is this?!" he demanded angrily.

"Ha! Says the man with a fake face" the Doctor quipped, "But you see, that's the trouble with viewing reality through technology. It's all too easy to feed in a new reality".

Heidi stepped out of the corner where he'd been hiding, and Clara went over to greet him. "You got it? Great" she smiled, taking her mobile phone from him. The Doctor had promised they'd wipe all the villagers memories of the advanced technology they'd encountered, so that their development wouldn't be compromised.

"We saved the town with a story" Romana noted, "And a make believe monster. Welcome to the world through the eyes of a storyteller, Odin".

"Behold, the might of the Mire" the Corsair continued, sarcasm dripping from his voice, "Brutal, sadistic, undefeated…even I believed the stories, but after today, nobody will. Your army marches on its reputation, and today you were sent packing by a bunch of farmers and fishermen".

"Not to mention fleeing in terror from a wooden puppet" Flavia added dryly; the Corsair resisted the urge to grin at her.

Clara and Emily giggled. "See, that was really funny" Clara sniggered.

"It's a good thing we didn't film it…oh wait, oops, we did!" Emily grinned cheekily. Clara held her phone up so they could watch the 'battle' – the Mire firing at the head of the 'monster' that crouching villagers slowly rolled towards them, whilst humorous sax music played in the background. "Adding the Benny Hill theme was a great touch, Clara" Emily complimented.

"The Benny Hill theme, yes" the Doctor grinned, amused, "Now, you see, we could just keep this as a funny little film and play it every year at the Christmas party, or we could upload it to the galactic hub and get a second opinion. So the question you need to ask yourself is this. Just how important is your reputation to you? Here's a little sneak preview, piped straight into your helmets, free of charge" he said. Clara pressed a button and Odin saw the video…the humiliating, reputation destroying video.

"If you don't leave right now, we'll put it out there for all to see and no one will fear you again".

"This humiliation will not go unpunished" Odin warned, "We will meet again". Suddenly, his teleporter activated and he was beamed away.

"Whoops" the Corsair smirked, tossing his sonic in the air, "Guess his teleporter was faulty".

Everyone cheered and hugged each other in relief. Emily went back to Ashildr, wondering why she hadn't gotten out of the chair yet. "Ashildr, you did it! You can take that off now. Ashildr?"

The young woman didn't move, and a terrible foreboding struck Emily. She quickly grabbed Ashildr's wrist, feeling for a pulse…her eyes widened. "Dad!"

The Doctor, the Corsair and Einarr rushed in; the latter rushed up to his unresponsive daughter, trying in vain to rouse her. "Ashildr? Ashildr!"

"Help me get it off her" the Corsair told him; together they lifted the helmet away. Ashildr slumped forwards into Einarr's arms; he cradled her there on the floor and felt for a pulse beating in her neck.

"No pulse…" he looked up at the Doctor, who was staring at Ashildr in saddened horror. "Is she dead?" he asked, not wanting to believe it was so.

"I'm sorry…I'm really, terribly sorry" the Doctor replied, before rushing out of the room, unable to face the grieving, accusing stare.

/

Clara and Emily found her parents and the Corsair in the boathouse; Romana was talking quietly to the Doctor whilst the Corsair seemed to be lost in thought, sitting on a lidded barrel. "Flavia said she…died of heart failure" Clara said quietly.

Nobody spoke; the Corsair merely nodded. It wasn't long before the silence was broken, by Emily. "I told her she'd be fine" she murmured sadly.

"Oh, sweetheart, it's not your fault" Romana soothed, striding over and enveloping her daughter in a hug, "You couldn't have known" she murmured, stroking Emily's hair.

"I should have" the Doctor said lowly, without looking up from the water barrel he was leaning over, "But I didn't. I plugged her into that machine and drained her like a battery" he said bitterly.

The Corsair sighed and dragged a hand across his face. "I should've known…I thought, since we'd set it to human parameters, it wouldn't…" he shrugged helplessly.

"I don't know about the rest of you" the Doctor remarked, "But I am so sick of losing".

"You didn't lose" said Clara, "We saved the town".

"I don't mean the war. I'll lose any war you like. I'm sick of losing people. I'm sick of having people die for me…" he looked up at Clara, and gave her a tired, sad smile. "One day we'll lose you, with your huge eyes, and your never-giving-up, and your anger, and your kindness…and I think it might hurt so much, that we'll jump in our box and run, in case the pain ever catches up".

"You did your best, love" Romana told him, still holding Emily, "None of us knew this would happen. There's nothing we can do now".

"We can do anything" he retorted, "There's nothing we can't do, nothing; but we're not supposed to. Ripples, tidal waves, rules…" he frowned, looking down into the water in the barrel, "I'm not supposed to…Oh. Oh!"

"What's wrong?" the Corsair asked, standing up.

"My face…"

" _Who frowned me this face? Why this one? Why did I choose this face?"_

"It's okay, we're used to the eyebrows now".

"No! I think I know why I chose it" he told them, a smile spreading across his face, "I think I know what I'm trying to say".

"What?" Emily asked curiously.

He remembered – Pompeii, Vesuvius, and Donna begging to save someone, _anyone,_ from the destruction…he had Caecilus' face. The face of the man he'd saved from a fixed point in time, in spite of the Laws…

"I know where I got this face, and I know what it's for…"

"Which is?" asked the Corsair; he wished the Doctor wouldn't be so over-dramatic sometimes; then again, he couldn't really talk.

"To remind me. To hold me to the mark. I'm the Doctor, and I save people" the Doctor announced, before rushing out into the open air, and shouting up at the sky, "And if anyone happens to be listening, and you've got any kind of a problem with that, to hell with you!"

He ran back to the meeting hall, where Ashildr was laid out on furs atop a bier…Flavia did her best to comfort her distraught father. The mourning villagers jumped when the Doctor burst in, running over to the broken helmet and pulling out Romana's sonic. "What are you doing?" Einarr demanded, upset at this interruption. Hadn't the man done enough?

"Saving her" he snapped.

Clara, Romana, Emily and the Corsair hurried in. "Doctor, I tried to save her" the Corsair told him, and he really had, he'd tried to make a makeshift defibrillator… "Her…her heart's been stopped too long".

"Well, I've got something here that can fix _anything_ " the Doctor retorted, as he worked on something in the palm of his hand. He stood up and tossed Romana her sonic, before heading over to Ashildr, holding what looked like a SIM card between his fingers. "It's from the Mire helmet; battlefield medical kit. I've reprogrammed it for human beings" he explained, placing it on Ashildr's forehead.

"It's gone" Einarr said in surprise, as the square seemed to melt into Ashildr's skin, "It's inside her".

"It's repairing her. It will never stop repairing her, if it works. Come on, Ashildr. Come on. The story's not over yet" he said urgently. Flavia's brow furrowed in worry…what did he mean, it wouldn't stop repairing her?

Tears leaked down Einarr's face as he stroked his daughter's hair. "Daughter, listen to me. This town has lost so much. If we lose you too there'll be nothing left" he whispered to her...and after what felt like an eternity, and yet no time at all, Ashildr gasped and her eyes briefly flickered open.

"Ashildr!"

"She'll be conscious in a day, up and about in three. No swimming for a week. Now, we're going to need a longboat and some of your best rowers. We're two days' sail from the TARDIS".

"Can't we wait for Ashildr to recover, and say goodbye?" asked Emily.

"No…it won't really be goodbye. Well, she'll, she'll probably see us often enough, once she understands".

"Understands what?" Einarr frowned, confused. At first the Doctor didn't reply…instead, he wordlessly handed him another Mire medical kit. "Will she need to take this?"

"No, no, no, it's not for her".

"Then who is it for?"

"Whoever she wants" he replied.

Einarr looked at the card, then at Ashildr, and then back at the time travellers. "Thank you" he said genuinely, "For helping us…for saving my daughter".

"Don't thank me yet" the Doctor sighed, patting Ashildr's hand and walking out. He brooded on the way back to the TARDIS, until finally Clara couldn't take it anymore.

"Okay, it's official" she announced, "Silence is even worse in a Scottish accent. Are you going to tell us what you're brooding about?"

"He thinks he's made a mistake" the Corsair explained.

"It won't stop, the repair kit I put inside Ashildr, not ever. It'll just keep fixing her. I'm not sure, but it's entirely possible she has lost the ability to die".

"The ability?" asked Clara, with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, dying is an ability, believe me. Barring accidents, she may now be functionally immortal".

"And you knew that might happen?" asked Flavia, "Then why use that device?"

"I was angry. I was emotional. The Corsair's right, I think I've made a terrible mistake. Maybe even a tidal wave" he admitted, unlocking the TARDIS doors.

Once they were all inside, Clara asked, "If the repair kit never stops working, then why did you give her two?"

"Immortality isn't living forever. That's not what it feels like. Immortality is everybody else dying. She might meet someone she can't bear to lose".

"Unless we introduce her to Jack" the Corsair quipped…he sighed when the joke fell flat, but in fairness it probably wasn't the best time.

"I don't know if you did the right thing…" Emily said slowly, "But I don't think Ashildr deserved to die. Maybe things will work out".

"Time will tell" the Doctor sighed, "It always does…though, this does mean that Ashildr isn't quite human anymore. There's a little piece of alien inside her, so in a way, she's… In a way, she's a hybrid".

"I think that's a bit much, dear" Romana told him, "It's not like she's half Mire. Now, I think we could all do with a rest".

/

Flavia walked into the parlour room with purpose, finding the Corsair sitting there with a cup of coffee. "Corsair, we need to talk" she said firmly.

He looked up at her and simply asked, "What about?"

Her eyes narrowed. "You know exactly what about".

The Corsair broke her gaze, staring down at his knees. "…I'm sorry, okay? I should've said that sooner. I shouldn't have told you what I did".

"Yes, you should have apologised sooner" she agreed, "but I'm not mad because you told me…about that…I'm mad because you told me and then _left._ As if it didn't matter…as if _I_ didn't matter".

"Of course you matter. That's why I shouldn't have mentioned anything. It was stupid of me. I'm sorry. Happy now?" he asked, looking up at her with a slight glare.

"No!" she snapped, glaring right back, "I wasn't happy then, and I'm not happy now. Why didn't you just talk to me about it?"

"What else could I say?" he demanded, "Can't we just forget this ever happened? That's what we usually do".

"Corsair, this isn't like our usual disagreements!" Flavia said exasperatedly, "We can't just pretend it never happened…I was going to, but fortunately Romana talked some sense into me".

The Corsair said nothing, but merely looked down at his knees again. Flavia frowned. "Could you please look at me when I'm talking to you?"

He looked.

"Did you even care?" she asked him, "About me, about how I felt…or did you just see an opportunity to get a secret off your chest, and went off the moment you felt better".

"Yeah - no- I mean, a bit of both. I…I wasn't gonna tell you, but after all the talk about regrets and taking chances, when you brought up what I was really gonna say, when I thought we were about to die…I didn't want to tell you because I knew something like this would happen. I assumed you wouldn't want to discuss it".

"Well, you assumed incorrectly. You can't just tell someone that you're attracted to them and then walk off! I don't know how you ever got anyone to sleep with you…um…" Flavia blushed, and the Corsair allowed himself a tiny, amused smirk.

"Probably because I don't normally walk off" he pointed out, "You're a rare exception".

"I'm honoured" Flavia replied sarcastically, "Dare I ask why that is?"

"You mean why I left? I told you, I thought you wouldn't want to discuss it…ah, who am I kidding? Might as well be honest…I left because I didn't feel like being rejected…well, more rejected, I should say".

"More rejected?" Flavia frowned, "I never…I mean I was shocked, but…"

"Oh, sure, you didn't outright say 'no', but I knew you were going to. I've always known you'd never go for me…I'm pretty sure I mentioned all this before. Like I said…what else was there to say?"

Flavia didn't have an answer for that. "You know, I did wonder…" she said at last, "If perhaps…the real reason you always paired up with me, was because you wanted an excuse to be alone with me".

He snorted. "What, you think I was just waiting for a chance to pounce? You have this really low opinion of me, and you wonder why I assumed you'd recoil at the mere idea of us being intimate".

"Would you please stop jumping to conclusions; that's not what I meant!" she said, "…I know you'd never do something like that. I know you were trying to be honourable…I appreciate that" Flavia said quietly. She hesitated, and then came to sit beside him on the couch. "Corsair…why didn't you just tell me?" she asked, "And don't say it was because I was too 'proper'…I haven't acted the way I did on Gallifrey in centuries".

"Yeah, but by then, we'd become friends…and I…I like us being friends" he confessed, fidgeting. "I mean, sure, I'm attracted to you…but I'm attracted to a lot of people. There are thousands of hot women out there, but…I'm not good friends with all of them. I told you, with you, it's…different. I didn't want to risk ruining our friendship…by trying to become more than friends".

A silence descended, as Flavia digested his words. _He kept it secret for this long because he didn't want to damage our friendship? That is so…so…sweet_ she couldn't help but think.

"I'm sorry I didn't try to talk things out with you" he apologised, completely genuinely.

"Apology accepted…" Flavia hesitated, but she knew she needed to say this. "Corsair, you were right about one thing. I would've said no – but not for the reasons you think. I'm saying no because it's a lot to take in and I need time…and because I don't want to ruin our friendship either" she smiled at him.

He smiled back, briefly. "I don't mean this as a mixed signal, but…" he quickly leaned over and gave her a quick, chaste kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, Flavia" he said when he pulled back, "You want a coffee?"

"Um…yes, please. Thanks for what?"

"For not letting me be an idiot" he replied, getting up and taking his cooled coffee with him, leaving Flavia alone with her thoughts.


	17. The Woman Who Lived Pt 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: Once again, sorry for the long wait. My muse kept giving me ideas unrelated to this story, or even Doctor Who in general (shock, horror!). Still, it's not like my updates were ever regular to begin with, right?

The Woman Who Lived – Part One

"Did I do the right thing?" the Doctor asked Romana, for perhaps the hundredth time, as the two of them sat in bed. Romana sighed and bookmarked the page of the novel she was reading, and looked over at him with a sad smile.

"It's hard to say, dear" she replied, "I told you, there's no way to judge how this will turn out unless we meet Ashildr again".

"I was trying to help her" he sighed, rubbing at his temples, "I usually end, save or ruin a person's life, not all three at once…or very rarely, at any rate".

Romana shook her head at her husband's self-deprecation and firmly told him, "You didn't end her life, dear, you saved her. As for ruining her life…well, yes, this will probably change her, but it's up to Ashildr herself whether she changes for the better or the worse…just like it is with everyone".

"Yes, but what if I was wrong?" he demanded fretfully, "About all of it…what if I didn't choose this face for a reason. What if me looking like Caecilius is just a coincidence?"

"It was probably subconscious, but it's a bit of a stretch to call it a coincidence" Romana pointed out, "Besides, it's been known for us to regenerate into bodies that copy ones from our past. I mean, look at what happened the first time I regenerated".

"I remember…you spent ages showing off choosing different bodies, some of which were very strange I might add. What?" he asked, finally noticing Romana's unamused eyebrow raise.

She shook her head and explained, "Yes, but look at the body I settled on eventually. It was a double of Princess Astra".

"Princess who?" the Doctor asked obliviously. Once again, Romana gave him a long suffering look and answered, "She was the sixth piece of the Key to Time. Of course when you broke it apart again, she was restored to normal…" she chuckled lightly as she recalled, "You were the one who wanted me to change bodies, you said I had no right to assume the form of another person".

The Doctor suddenly looked very sheepish. "I never said anything like that" he lied vehemently.

"No? Must be my imagination" Romana said teasingly, before leaning over and giving him a kiss. "Now stop worrying. What's done is done…and if you don't mind, I'm going to get back to reading" she decided, cracking open the novel once more. She didn't get very far before a hand cupped around her cheek and pulled her into another, slower kiss. She didn't get much reading done that night after all.

/

The Doctor poked his head out of the TARDIS doors, seeing but not really noticing the forest they'd landed in. The co-ordinates said they were in a forest, so he knew it wasn't like with Maebh and the floating lights. Then he stepped out, shutting the door behind him, and strode off, fiddling with a gizmo in his hands. Moments later, the door was opened again by Flavia, who strode after him with the Corsair in tow. "Doctor, what are you doing?"

"Shh!"

"Don't you shush me"-

"Warm" the Doctor muttered to himself, ignoring her, peering at the red lights blinking on stalks on his contraption.

"Forget it, Flavia, he's on a mission" the Corsair shook his head.

An amber light came on the device's compass. "Warmer" the Doctor muttered, dodging a tree without looking up and following the direction of the arrow. Flavia and the Corsair exchanged an exasperated glance and followed after him.

"Doctor, what are you looking for, exactly?"

"I told you, something important and dangerous. Possibly, maybe…"

"You didn't tell us anything! You just showed up in the console room with that thing and walked off" Flavia huffed. They came upon a road running through the forest, where a carriage had been stopped in its tracks by a lone horseman. Much to Flavia's consternation, the Doctor walked single-mindedly towards the carriage, right up the door, and climbed right in.

"Hello" he greeted the young woman inside, who screamed "Aah! Don't shoot!"

"Doctor, get out of the carriage!"

"Oh, don't mind me, don't mind me. I'm only going to be a minute. Don't worry. Oh, very warm" he noticed, fiddling with his makeshift tracking device, or whatever it was.

"What are you doing?" the highwayman demanded in annoyance.

"Not looking where he's going, that's what" the Corsair quipped.

"You're not helping" Flavia rolled her eyes, stepping forward, intending to pull the Doctor out of the carriage. Then the highwayman pulled a pistol on her and she froze; the Corsair frowned at him and stepped in the way.

"This is a robbery, sir. You and your acquaintances should stand aside".

"Oh, just ignore us, we're passing through, like fish in the night" the Doctor waved him off unconcernedly, having climbed out of the carriage from the other side. He walked around the back of it, frowning at his gizmo with a puzzled, slightly frustrated expression.

"It's 'ships in the night', Doctor, and I really think we should be leaving now" Flavia told him pointedly.

"This is _my_ robbery" the highwayman snapped impatiently, "Now begone, before I blow your brains out" he threatened, aiming the pistol in the direction of the Doctor's head.

"Just so you know" the Corsair remarked, "that might make him worse".

The Doctor finally looked up from his device and blinked at the highwayman as if he'd only just noticed him…which wasn't all too unlikely. "Sorry, were you talking to me there? Try again. I promise I'll listen this time".

"You have interrupted my robbery, sir, and you will step away, if you wish to take another breath".

"You're going to get us all killed, if you don't shut your mouth" the coachman hissed at him, but the Doctor had become distracted by the flashing, beeping device in his hands again.

"Sorry. Sorry, I really was planning to listen that time but, basically, I didn't. Usually, someone hits me at this point, but she's taking the Year 7s for Taekwondo. I have two other people to keep me on track, but they're on a mother-daughter day out, so I'm stuck with these two" he explained, jerking a thumb at Flavia and the Corsair.

"Oh, wow, thanks".

The Doctor bashed the device with the palm of his hand, and followed the signal to the luggage rack at the back of the coach. "Yes, got you!" he grinned, before finally realising, "Oh, hang on. If I didn't know better, I'd say this was a robbery".

Flavia valiantly managed to resist the urge to slam her palm into her face. How the Doctor had survived for over 1200 years, most of them on his own, was still a mystery to her.

" _I_ am robbing these people. _You_ are getting out of my way".

"What if we robbed you back?" the Corsair inquired.

"I just need one tiny little thing from out of this box" the Doctor told them.

Frustrated, the highwayman nudged his horse forward to approach them, insisting "This is _my_ robbery!"

"You said that already".

"Can't we share? Isn't that what robbery's all about?"

Now that the highwayman's horse had moved out of the way, the coachman saw an opportunity to escape and cracked the reins. "Yah! Get up!" he shouted; the horses pulling the carriage whinnied and pulled it off at a gallop.

"Oh, no! No, no, no, no, no!"

The highwayman's horse was spooked by the sudden rush and reared up, front legs kicking. The Corsair and Flavia wisely backed off to avoid getting a hoof in the head. Fortunately, the horse was soon brought back under control.

"You bungled my heist" the highwayman snapped crossly.

"No, you bungled ours, Zorro!"

" _Ours?_ We had nothing to do with this".

"Nay, tis all _his_ fault, the whey faced fool" the highwayman gestured to the Doctor.

"Yeah, well, why don't you show your face?" he asked, "At least we show our faces. What's wrong with yours?"

The highwayman stared at him for a moment, and then dismounted. "Nothing, Doctor" they replied…in a female, very familiar voice. They pulled off their hat, scarf and mask to reveal they were none other than –

"Ashildr?" Flavia asked in surprise.

"Yes, it's me. Flavia, isn't it?" she asked, before looking at the Doctor and remarking, "You took your time, old man".

"Old man?"

"It seemed apt" she shrugged, "Life expectancy is thirty five these days; well, for everyone else".

"Did you know it was us the whole time?" the Corsair inquired curiously.

"Well, you don't forget the man who saved your life, or his friends. It's good to see you again".

"Yes, I didn't get that impression when you were threatening to kill me" the Doctor felt the need to point out.

In reply, Ashildr once more adopted a male voice and commented, "The Knightmare has a reputation to maintain".

"Nice fake voice" the Corsair nodded appreciatively, "When did you learn to do that?"

"Years ago, I don't remember when".

"Last time we saw you, you were founding a leper colony" the Doctor told her, before admitting, "I was so proud of you".

"Proud of me?" she frowned, "You weren't even there".

"We tried to keep tabs on you, after…" the Corsair trailed off and finished with, "We could only track you down on occasion, you moved around a lot".

"Out of necessity; and you just left me there, in a leper colony?"

"Well, you seemed fine" the Doctor reasoned, perhaps less than tactfully, go figure.

Flavia shot him a glare and tried to explain, "We wanted to…okay, I wanted to get you out of there, but well…we knew it wouldn't have the same effect on you, and you were helping so many people…" It was hard. How did you explain to someone the reason you watched them from afar, saw what they had accomplished, but never approached them?

Ashildr frowned slightly, but then shrugged and decided, "No matter, you're here now. We should celebrate".

"Will there be drinks?" the Corsair inquired, just before the Doctor shook his head and hastily rambled, "Oh, no, this isn't a visit, we've got a job to do. We're here looking for an alien object which has no business being here on Earth in 1651. It was just- it just so happened, you know, that my tracking device, it led me to the carriage that you were, you know, robbing. There wasn't - I didn't - It was a"-

The slight frown returned to Ashildr's features, deeper this time. "You mean you haven't come for me?"

"No, it was just a coincidence".

"Of course" Flavia interrupted pointedly, "Just because it wasn't planned, doesn't mean we won't help you, Ashildr" she assured the young woman. She was expecting gratitude, or at the very least a smile, but instead Ashildr merely blinked in confusion and tilted her head to one side.

"Who's Ashildr?"

"Um…you are. That's your name" Flavia told her, now getting rather concerned.

"Daughter of Einarr, Chuckles" the Doctor supplied helpfully, "I used to call him Chuckles. Do you remember?"

"Yes…" she said slowly, "I think I remember the village".

"You loved that village".

"If you say so" she shrugged; Flavia felt a stab of pity, the Doctor and Corsair a stab of guilt, at the notion that Ashildr had almost forgotten her old life, her own identity even.

"Anyone in that village would have died for you" the Doctor said earnestly, hoping to spark some of the fire that he remembered from the old Ashildr.

Instead she merely remarked coolly, as if it didn't matter, "Well, they're all dead now, and here I am. So, I guess it all worked out".

Flavia couldn't believe this was the same girl who had made stories and loved her village so dearly she refused to leave in the face of death. "Ashildr…" she began, wanting to apologise, but Ashildr cut her off.

"That's not my name. I don't even remember that name".

"So…what is your name?" asked the Corsair, "Err, your new name".

"Me" she answered bluntly.

"Yes, you" he nodded.

"No. I call myself Me" she explained, "All the other names I chose died with whoever knew me. Me is who I am now. No one's mother, daughter, wife. My own companion. Singular. Unattached. Alone" she insisted, "Anyway, I should get started. Jump on, Doctor, I'll give you a ride. You can help me" she explained, walking over to her horse and taking hold of the reins.

"Help you with what?"

"Packing" she answered.

"What about Flavia and I?" the Corsair inquired; after all, they couldn't _all_ fit on one horse.

Ashildr turned towards the trees on the other side of the path, placed two fingers to her lips and whistled hard. Moments later, a dappled grey gelding trotted out from between the trees and stood there, snorting. "Do we want to know why you have an extra horse standing around?" the Corsair inquired, as he walked over to the horse and petted its snout.

"Not really".

"Fine, I'll ask again later" he shrugged, leading the horse over to Flavia and gesturing for her to climb on. She smiled and let him help her onto the horse; ever since their talk, he'd been a lot more considerate of her, and…well, she liked it. Once she was comfortable, he swung himself up and kicked the horse on, following after Ashildr.

/

Ashildr led them to a country manor, rather like Caliburn House, looking darkened and foreboding. They left the horses in a stable near the entrance and walked the rest of the way down the drive. "It's a big place for someone who lives on their own" the Doctor commented.

"I have a servant" Ashildr informed them, "And all manner of visitors drop in".

The Corsair wondered, "Expected guests, or guests like us?"

She shrugged and replied, "It varies".

They went through a side door and down a corridor, then the main staircase. "Your device, Doctor, what is it?" Ashildr inquired curiously.

"My curio-scanner?" he asked, "Oh, it, err, it sort of scans for, it scans for curios…I've just realised how it got its name. It's been tracking exoplanetary energy for the last couple of weeks. I've been following it across the galaxy" he explained. Ashildr opened a large chest filled with money and jewellery, clearly stolen. Flavia frowned a bit at the sight…it was sad to think that Ashildr had turned to a life of crime.

"And when were you planning to mention that to the rest of us?" asked the Corsair.

"I'm pretty sure I told you about this…" He sounded doubtful.

Flavia asked, "What exactly is it you're looking for?"

"Oh, I have a pretty good idea".

"You know, I wasn't just robbing Lucie Fanshawe for her loot" Ashildr remarked, "She's bragged about having the rarest gem in the land, an ancient amulet from foreign parts. Could it be we are looking for the same prize?"

Rather than answer, the Doctor simply gestured around the well-appointed hall and pointed out "Clearly, you don't need money. So why do you rob?"

She added her spoils of the night to the chest, and closed the lid once more, before answering him. "For the adventure, Doctor. Isn't that what life's all about?"

Ashildr led her three guests through the house, giving an impromptu tour as they went. They ended up in the library; the Corsair helped build up a fire, and Flavia lit some candles. Most of the shelves were filled with identical looking volumes, differentiated only by the dates on their spines. "I've had eight hundred years of adventure, enough to fill a library if you write it down" Ashildr told the Doctor, when he asked what all those books were for. They were all diaries.

The Corsair picked up a crown and turned it over in his hands. "You were a medieval queen?" he asked, "Impressive. How'd you swing that?"

"Marriage of 'convenience'; it was say yes or get hanged. I went with the easier option, and then my new husband goes and gets himself trampled" Ashildr rolled her eyes, "It's not what it's cracked up to be. It was paperwork and backgammon mainly, as I recall. Ended up faking my own death. Did a bunk before the evisceration" she explained, vaguely remembering climbing out of her coffin and escaping through the window. "Now this was much more my thing" she smiled, holding up a longbow.

"The Battle of Agincourt. My first stint as a man. No-one will ever know that a mere woman helped end the Hundred Years' War" she announced, with no small amount of pride.

The Doctor and Flavia were more concerned than impressed, albeit for different reasons. "You're immortal, not indestructible. You can be hurt, killed even".

Ashildr twanged the bowstring. "Ten thousand hours is all it takes to master any skill. Over a hundred thousand hours and you're the best there's ever been" she declared, "I don't need to be indestructible, I'm superb. You should have seen me. I could shoot six arrows a minute. I got so close to the enemy, I penetrated armour".

Flavia spoke up for the first time since they'd come to the library. "Killing people isn't something to be proud of, Ashildr" she said quietly. She really didn't like how this…new Ashildr was talking.

"I'm proud of my skill, not my death count, "Ashildr retorted with a glare, "And I told you, that's not my name".

"How many people _have_ you killed?" the Doctor inquired out of morbid curiosity; Ashildr merely shrugged.

"You'll have to check my diaries".

"You can't remember?"

"For what it's worth, I've saved many lives too" she insisted; she recalled a crowd of pitchfork wielding villagers dragging her to a lake, chanting 'Kill the witch!' and dunking her. Most unpleasant… "I cured an entire village of scarlet fever once, almost got drowned as a witch for my troubles. Fortunately, I'm really good at holding my breath. Ungrateful peasants" she grumbled.

The Doctor found a beaked leather hood…the headwear of a seventeenth century plague 'doctor'. "The Black Death, 1348. I meant to warn you".

"We _should_ have warned you" said Flavia.

"I got sick, but I got better" Ashildr shrugged, as if it didn't matter.

"Of course, your immune system is learning too. There's another bout coming. And a big fire that tears through London" the Doctor warned her. Did that count as a spoiler?

"Excellent" Ashildr smiled, "Maybe I start it".

"No, that was the Terileptils" he corrected, before remarking "Surgeon, scientist, inventor, composer, it's a fantastic CV".

"You should try my journals. I read them myself now and then. Drink pomace wine, have a little me time".

"Was that a pun?" the Corsair asked jokingly. Ashildr just rolled her eyes at him, and he shrugged. "You don't seem like the nostalgic sort" he added.

"It's not nostalgia, it's curiosity" Ashildr explained, "I can't remember most of it. That's the trouble with an infinite life and a normal sized memory".

"And you've outlived everyone you love…we're so sorry you had to go through that, Ashildr" Flavia said earnestly, before looking pointedly at the Doctor and adding, "Aren't we?"

"Oh, yes" he nodded when he noticed her glare, "Sorry".

"You'll have to remind me, what's sorrow like?" asked Ashildr, before sighing in frustration. "It all just runs out, Doctor. I'm just what's left. In fact, I've done all I can here. I look up to the sky and wonder what it's like out there. Please, take me with you. All these people here, they're like smoke, they blow away in a moment. None of you know what it's like".

"We do know what it's like" the Doctor replied solemnly. They'd all outlived loved ones, whether before or after the War, and there was always the chance that they'd outlive one another.

"Then, however you fly, whatever ship you sail in, take me with you" she begged them.

"How'd you know we had a ship?"

"Because I'm incredibly clever" she answered, "It doesn't matter. Take me with you".

"Of course you can come with us, Ashildr" Flavia agreed unhesitatingly; anything to make up for, in her mind, ruining the poor girl's life. Not that she wished Ashildr had died that day, she wouldn't wish that on anyone, but it was clear that Ashildr had lost her way.

"We need to talk about this, Flavia" the Doctor insisted stubbornly, "We're co-pilots, we need to be democratic".

"Well, as a co-pilot, perhaps I want to take Ashildr…err, Me, that is, as a companion. You can't tell me who I can't have as a companion, Doctor".

"I never said I could".

The Corsair cleared his throat. "No offence, Flavia, but maybe you should drop it for now" he suggested. Flavia glared at him slightly, as if to say 'Whose side are you on?', but nevertheless she dropped the subject.

There was an awkward silence, which Ashildr soon broke by saying "This thing you're looking for, I'll help you find it. It'll be quicker".

The Doctor wasn't convinced. "We won't need your help" he insisted, but Ashildr was having none of it.

"Yes, you do. I know where Lucie Fanshawe lives, and I'm an excellent house-breaker. We'll leave in an hour" she declared.

Flavia cleared her throat and inquired, "Uh, could I use your restroom?"

"Sure, Flavia, I'll show you where it is". Ashildr led the Time Lady from the library, leaving the two Time Lords alone. Normally they were pretty talkative together, but right now, neither of them quite knew what to say. The Corsair stared into the fire as if the dancing flames held the answer to their troubles, whilst the Doctor wandered around the library. He selected a journal from near the beginning of the collection, if the dates were anything to go by, and started reading.

' _Today is the day I should have died. Instead, I was re-born, by my hero, a man called The Doctor. My love is dying. It broke my heart when the questions started and I knew I had to leave him. I returned to find an old man who smiles and thinks I am a dream. I am flesh and blood, my love, but all you see is a ghost'_.

In another book, this one written in Latin, the Doctor found that some of the pages were torn out, others stained with tears. ' _The Plague. Mass graves. Sightless children…_ "Clutching toys as they sleep, never to wake up. My children. My screams. I could not save you, little ones. Such pain. And yet, still, still I am not brave enough to die, to let go of this wretched life. I will endure, but no more babies. I cannot, will not, suffer such heartbreak again. From now on, it's me against the world".

A cleared throat made him jump and look up at the Corsair, who gave a sad smile. "You were reading out loud again" he said, before dragging a hand over his face. "We really messed up this time, didn't we?"

The Doctor didn't answer.

A little while later, they went to the dining room, and found Flavia with a near untouched cup of tea. "Where's Ashildr?" the Corsair asked, pouring himself and the Doctor a glass of wine. Both of them needed something a little stronger than tea.

"I don't know, she said she had business to attend to" Flavia explained, before sighing and asking, "Doctor, why are you so against her coming with us?"

"Who said I was?"

"Oh, don't deny it" she huffed, "You're rather obvious, sometimes, you know".

"So I've been told. Why do you want her to come?"

"Well, it's the least we could do! She might act like she doesn't care anymore, but deep down I think she does. You got her into this mess, Doctor, so we ought to get her out".

"Are you saying I shouldn't have saved her?"

"Of course not…or perhaps…it would have been hard, but perhaps it would've been for the best…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa – that's not like you, Flavia" the Corsair shook his head, "You don't mean that".

Flavia sighed and admitted, "You're right, I don't…but it doesn't change the fact that Ashildr is hurting. She was such a sweet girl…I hate to think that she's become so jaded".

"Coming with us wouldn't solve that" the Doctor reasoned, "She'd just become jaded to what's out there, eventually".

"Not at first; and with us around, she'd have people with a similar lifespan to her".

"She could just outlive us too".

"Those are all problems in the future; what I want to know is, what's your problem with her now?"

"I don't have a problem with Ashildr, Flavia".

"Oh, no, I see what the problem is. You don't want her around to remind you of what you did to her. I can't believe you, Doctor; I knew you could be selfish, but"-

"I am _not_ being selfish!" the Doctor snapped angrily, "And I don't need the people I've hurt to be around to be reminded of them".

Feeling awkward, the Corsair cleared his throat. "Look, I feel bad about Ashildr as well, but Flavia has a point. Why not let her come with us? I doubt Romana and Emily would mind, and it's not like we don't have the room" he pointed out.

"Look, I just don't think she's TARDIS material" the Doctor replied vaguely, not looking at either of them. Flavia's brow furrowed; to her, it still sounded like he simply wanted to avoid Ashildr. Before she could say anything, Ashildr herself entered the room. "How are you all?" she asked politely.

"We're fine" Flavia answered on behalf of all of them.

Of course, the Doctor couldn't leave well enough alone… "I read some of your journals. Why are there pages missing?" he asked her.

"When things get really bad, I tear the memories out".

"You lost your kids" the Corsair frowned, "What's worse than that?"

"I keep that entry to remind me not to have any more" Ashildr told him, as she half-heartedly stoked the fire, which was turning into little more than embers.

Flavia bit her lip, and then murmured, "I'm sorry. _We're_ sorry. We left you alone to suffer for too long…but the offer to be my companion is still there, if you want to. See, I still remember who you used to be. I think deep down, you still are that person".

"Thanks for the offer, Flavia, but please spare me your pity" Ashildr insisted, "I'm fine".

"People always say they're fine when they're not" the Corsair pointed out, "The Doctor's made a profession out of it".

"Perhaps you just can't accept that this is who I've become. The thought must frighten you".

"It doesn't frighten us, it's just depressing" the Doctor retorted lightly, "And familiar. This is no way to live your life, desensitised to the world".

"Oh, and what do you intend to do about it?" Ashildr challenged, folding her arms and staring the Doctor down, "Fix me? Make me feel again, and then run away? I don't need your help, Doctor, you need mine. Just this once, you lot can't run off like you usually do".

"How do you know? How do you know what we usually do? We've met once in a Viking village. We didn't give you our life story".

"It's true though, isn't it? You're the man who runs away, and your friends follow".

"That's just convenience, it's not like he's the leader" the Corsair shrugged, "We've all taken turns to take the lead".

"Well, this time, _I'm_ taking the lead" Ashildr announced, putting a couple of pistols into the holsters on her belt, "The fewer the better, so you can come, Doctor, but I want you both to stay here" she told Flavia and the Corsair.

The two time travellers looked at one another, and then nodded in agreement. The Doctor followed Ashildr out of the house…he paused in the garden outside. He thought he could hear something growling, close but very quiet…before he could investigate, Ashildr called for him to hurry up, so he went to catch up. A pair of reflective yellow eyes watched the pair go, peering between twigs and leaves.

/

Back inside the house, Flavia took a sip of her tea. She pulled a face in disgust when she realised it was stone cold, and went to throw it out. Much to the Corsair's surprise, she then proceeded to pour herself a glass of wine. "Whoa, you really are stressed" he commented as she drank nearly half of it in one gulp. Then it occurred to him to ask, "Is there anything I can do?"

"No…but thank you for the offer" she smiled, taking a seat beside him and adding, "Thank you in general".

"You're welcome". He took a sip of his own wine and inquired, "What for, exactly?"

"Well…I haven't really had a chance to say it, but I appreciate how you're trying to, well…"

"Be more of a gentleman?" he guessed, and she nodded. The Corsair smirked slyly and inquired, "How mad would you be if I said it was all an attempt to win you over with my incredible charm?"

"I wouldn't be mad at all" she replied primly, "For one thing, I already know you're trying to win me over, and for another, if it took you this long to start wooing me seriously, then perhaps your charm isn't as incredible as you think it is".

The Corsair gaped at her, and then laughed. "Ha! I knew there was a reason I liked you!"

"Mm…speaking of which, what do you think about Ashildr coming with us?"

"What, as your companion? Well, like you said, it's your decision in the end" he shrugged, "But if you really wanna know…well, I don't really do companions, but from what the Doctor's told me, it helped that he's had loads of different companions. Why _do_ we call them that?" he wondered, "It sounds so…sixties".

Flavia shrugged, and remarked, "I think it would be nice to have another person around. We could teach her to help fly the TARDIS, and have six pilots like the ship is supposed to. There'd be another person to go with Emily or Clara when we have to split up on adventures, and obviously Ashildr can take care of herself. Besides, if she ever got tired of travelling, we could find her somewhere to live".

"I guess. Hey, I've got an idea. Why don't we see what Romana thinks?" he suggested, pulling out a smartphone from his pocket. Rather than call them, he decided to FaceTime Emily, figuring that her mother wouldn't be far away. Emily quickly picked up, and grinned at her godfather. "Hi Corsair! Hi Flavia!"

"Hey, Emz. Is your mum there?"

"Yes, I'm here. Is everything alright?" asked Romana, looking over Emily's shoulder, "Where's the Doctor?"

"He's out searching for an alien artefact" answered Flavia, before adding, "You two will never guess who we ran into here".

Emily asked, "Who?"

"Ashildr; the Viking girl we err, made immortal; but she's calling herself 'Me' now" the Corsair replied.

Emily looked puzzled. "She named herself after you?"

"Ha, I wish. No, she literally calls herself 'Me'. Just that one word…I can't figure out if it's grammatically correct or not".

"She's not in a good place" Flavia sighed, "She's lost a lot of who she was, but I think we can help her. I offered to let her be my companion".

"Oh, that's so thoughtful. Did she say yes?" Romana inquired with a smile.

"Not yet…besides, the Doctor doesn't seem too keen on the idea. He says he thinks that she isn't TARDIS material, but I don't see how".

"I'll talk to him" Romana promised, "Just ask him to call me when he gets back, will you?"

"We will. How are you two, then? Enjoying yourselves?" Flavia inquired. Emily grinned and launched into describing everything they'd done and planned to do on their mother-daughter outing.


	18. The Woman Who Lived Pt 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: Okay, I'm going to level with you guys. Real talk…the reason this took so long, isn't just because I've been busy. Between the hiatus, not entirely liking the latest episodes, and getting into other franchises…I've somewhat lost interest in Doctor Who. I do still plan on finishing this story, it's simply going to take a while…and it may be the last instalment of the series. I understand if I lose readers because of this, but it will be finished eventually. I plan to put this and my other story on a hiatus whilst I get other ideas out of my system. Apologies, and thanks for understanding.

The Woman Who Lived – Part Two

Ashildr and the Doctor approached the Fanshawes' stately mansion from the back; Ashildr had donned her mask and scarf once more. "Housebreaks can be tricky" she whispered as they stood outside a wooden door at the rear of the property.

"Not for me" the Doctor muttered, taking his sonic sunglasses from his pocket, "Sonic technology. Should be able to deactivate any alarms" he whispered confidently.

"What's an alarm?" Ashildr inquired, reminding the Doctor that it was only the 1600s, and electricity hadn't been invented yet. It was hard to keep track when one was a time traveller. She didn't wait for him to try and explain; instead, she held up one of her own wanted posters. "The most wanted in the land" she declared, with a hint of pride.

"Now is not the time to be showing off" he protested.

"Now seems like a very good time to me" Ashildr retorted, crouching down and sliding the piece of paper under the door. She used a thin piece of wire to jiggle the key in the lock, and then slid the paper out with the key lying on it. The Doctor wondered what she'd have done if there hadn't been a key in the hole to begin with. Ashildr unlocked the door, and turned to him, holding out a domino mask. "You'll need a mask, sidekick" she smirked, "Watch and learn".

"Brought my own, thanks" he replied, putting his sonic shades on.

They stepped as quietly as they could into the house, shutting the door behind them and leaving the key in the lock, as if it had never been disturbed. "Tis black as night" Ashildr whispered in the darkness, "I have a tinderbox somewhere".

The Doctor simply twitched the sonic glasses, and a candle burst into light. Ashildr wasn't that impressed. "Show off. Know where you're going, do you?" she asked, taking the candle from him and leading the way to a narrow staircase. "The servants' stairs; follow me".

On the way upstairs, the Doctor asked in a whisper, "Why are you still alone? What happened to the second immortality charge I gave you?"

She shushed him…and then paused on the staircase, showing him the second charge hidden within her jacket. "No one's good enough" she explained bluntly.

"Humans need"-

"Hush!" she hissed. They both tensed and waited for a light at the top of the staircase to flicker and disappear.

The Doctor finished his sentence, whispering "Humans need shared experiences".

"I'm regretting sharing this one" she muttered in riposte.

"It isn't right for you to be on your own!" he protested; Ashildr suddenly clapped a hand over his mouth when a maidservant stepped out of a room further down the corridor.

"Goodnight, ma'am" said the maid, walking away down the corridor without seeing them. Ashildr relaxed and lowered her hand, whispering, "I'll wager there's a dressing room. Come on!"

She hurried down the corridor, swiftly but silently, and opened a door further along; the Doctor nearly walked into it. Inside the room, which she had correctly judged to be a dressing room, Ashildr crossed over to a large cabinet filled with drawers and compartments, and began to search through them. Then she heard a strange beeping noise and turned to see the Doctor had pulled out that scanning device of his. "Doctor!" she hissed impatiently, "Doctor, turn that thing off!"

He ignored her, distracted by the curio-scanner. It led him to one particular compartment of the cabinet, inside which lay a small wooden chest. Inside the chest…was exactly what they were both looking for, a large glowing amethyst like gem set in a diamond and pearl encrusted medallion. "The Eyes of Hades" he whispered, awed, reaching out to pick it up. Ashildr beat him to it, slipping the medallion into the pocket of her cloak and closing the chest, then the drawer and cabinet. She pressed a finger to her lips and beckoned him to follow her. _Not even a thank you_ he thought, as they snuck out of the room.

On their way back through the house, another door opened and they hurried into a different room to hide…only to find that said room was already occupied, by Lord Fanshawe asleep and snoring on the couch. The two of them froze, unable to leave for fear of being spotted, but they couldn't stay there either. The Doctor nudged Ashildr and whispered, "Let's just go round and see if we can't get out the back".

"Okay" she agreed; they tiptoed past the back of the settee, and of course, just their luck, a floorboard creaked underneath one of their feet. Fanshawe couldn't have been that deeply asleep, for he stirred at the noise and muttered, "Lucie?"

Ashildr and the Doctor ducked down as Fanshawe rose to his feet and picked up a candle, once more calling, "Lucie?" They crawled on hands and knees around the couch, trying to avoid Fanshawe as he looked around for his wife, as if she were about to step out from behind the door or the curtains. "Lucie?" he called for a third time, before finally leaving the room. The Doctor and Ashildr slowly rose to their feet…she cringed as he accidentally knocked over a fire poker, which fell with a clatter on the stone hearth.

"There is an intruder on the premises!" they heard Fanshawe shout, "Bring me my blunderbuss!"

The Doctor saw Ashildr readying her pistol and whispered, "What are you doing?"

"It's kill or be killed".

"No, we can't. We should hide".

Fanshawe stormed into the room once more, his own pistol loaded and ready. "Guard the doors! Alert the militia!" he cried, not noticing a pair of booted feet hanging just beyond the top of the fireplace.

 _/_

"Your feet, you oaf" Ashildr hissed; the two of them began to climb precariously up the chimney. "Oh, I should've known you'd be a liability" she huffed, "Just let me shoot them and be done with it!"

" _You're_ the liability" the Doctor retorted, "We never have this trouble with Clara".

"Oh, she's still with you, is she?"

He paused. "Oh, you remember Clara, do you?"

"Of course; and Romana, and Emily. I take particular note of anyone's weaknesses. So what's wrong with Clara, then?"

"Nothing's wrong with Clara?"

"Why haven't you made _her_ immortal?"

"Well, look how you turned out. Besides, I already have plenty of company of that sort".

"Then what's one more? You need all the long lived friends you can get. Clara will just die on you, you know. She'll blow away like smoke".

"Save your breath" he said impatiently; he didn't want to talk about this, but Ashildr was persistent.

"How old are you, Doctor?"

"Older than you" he replied bluntly.

"And how many have you lost? How many Claras?" demanded Ashildr. He didn't answer her as they climbed out of the chimney and onto the roof. Only when they had climbed down a tree whose branches overhung the house, and had gotten a fair distance away from the building, did Ashildr press the topic.

"Most of them turned out fine" he said finally, more to shut her up than anything else. It didn't have the desired effect, as she began to lecture him about his apparent precedent for meddling in other people's lives and then leaving them, so how would he know if they turned out fine? The Doctor tuned her out; he was well accustomed to not paying attention when he didn't wish to. He wished someone else was there…he wished Romana and Emily were there, but they'd been very insistent on having a mother-daughter only day.

He suppressed a sigh; he didn't doubt that Flavia had gotten in touch with them and told them about Ashildr. Romana probably wouldn't mind Ashildr joining them, neither would Emily….in all honesty, the Doctor was still trying to put his finger on what bothered him about the idea. He didn't think travelling with them would improve Ashildr's attitude, seeing stars fade and people die, and she couldn't even find someone to fall in love with unless she fell for the Corsair or they hooked her up with Captain Jack…

The thought of the Torchwood captain nearly made the Doctor stumble, as he realised _that_ was what bothered him. Ashildr, now that she was essentially immortal…was a fixed point in time. It had been niggling in his head ever since they'd met her, but he'd been distracted trying to find the Eyes of Hades. He had spent enough time in Jack's company (or in his mind, Jenny's company, the rest of the Torchwood team just tended to be there in the way) for him to grow somewhat used to the unnatural living fixed point, so he didn't register it properly with Ashildr.

Now that he did notice it, however, it was like an itch in his mind he couldn't scratch. Ashildr was _wrong,_ she was alive when she shouldn't be, and it was his fault, he knew that. Taking her with them could make up for that, and if the others were willing to overlook the whole 'fixed point in time' thing….perhaps he was being selfish. The Doctor felt like he was missing something, there was something about Ashildr that didn't seem right…he recalled Emily once suggesting that he distract himself and let the answer come to him, rather than finding it, so he did just that.

He looked over at Ashildr, who had stopped talking when she realised he was paying no attention. "Robbery, burglary, that's capital" he remarked, feeling somewhat of a responsibility to try and dissuade her from a life of crime – not that he was one to talk. "Meat and drink to the hangman, Ashildr".

The country road they were walking along (the horse must have been spooked by something and run off home) took them past a gibbet; there was no corpse hanging from it at the time, but judging from the bloodstains it had recently been in use. Ashildr pointedly ignored it and replied, "I'm not Ashildr. I'm Me. And I fear no hangman in Christendom" she declared confidently.

A crow cawed, flying out of the branches up ahead as a man leapt down from a tree, blocking their path with a triumphant smirk on his face. "Ah-ha!"

"Sam Swift the Quick" Ashildr called him, slipping effortlessly into her disguises male voice, "I wouldn't be so bold if I were you. Don't you know who I am?"

"The Knightmare, which is why I'm not alone" he replied, as two more accomplices stepped out onto the path.

"Tis hardly a fair fight".

"And it was fair when you stole my patch?"

"Is that a fake nose, Sam? They should call you Sam Sniffed".

Sam frowned and reached up to touch his nose. "What's wrong with it? It's perfectly normal, innit?"

"For an anteater maybe" Ashildr retorted.

"Ooh. Well, never knew you were so puny, Knightmare. Or should I say, Slightmare" he teased right back, and the two thieves laughed. The Doctor couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"No, not the puns" he groaned, exasperated, "Line in the sand. No puns".

"It's what's in my brain that counts, Bingo Boy" Ashildr countered Sam's comment about her height, ignoring the Doctor. Two could play at that game, after all.

"Well, no brain outwits a bullet, Dandyprat" he shot back, drawing his pistol; Ashildr whipped out her own and faced off against him.

"This is banter" the Doctor complained, "I'm against banter. I'm on record on the subject of banter".

Sam cocked his weapon and demanded, "Lay down your arms, hand over the loot, or I'll shoot".

Ashildr gave an exaggerated sigh. "We better had" she remarked, "He'll probably aim to miss and hit one of us".

"We could give you cash instead" the Doctor suggested; Sam and his two thugs looked at him as if they'd only just realised he was there.

"Who's this, your sidekick?" Sam asked mockingly, "You've got your dad as a sidekick?"

"I'm not his dad, I'm the Doctor".

"Is that the best name you could come up with?"

"What, says Sam Swift the Quick? That's trying a bit too hard, isn't it? Or are you a little bit slow?"

"You what?" asked Sam, frowning in bewilderment. Ashildr quickly took advantage of his distraction to dart forwards and snatch his pistol out of hand, much to his chagrin. "Oi!"

"I rest my case. No-one outwits the Knightmare" the Doctor declared confidently. Of course Sam tried to get his pistol back, lunging at Ashildr and struggling to get it away from her. She fought back as good as she got, but their brief scuffle was brought to a halt when Sam's two accomplices aimed their own pistols at the Doctor's head. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes and wished the Corsair had come. One shot from his blaster would have sent these three running for the hills.

"If you value the life of your sidekick, back off! Put the weapon down!" Sam shouted at Ashildr; she hesitated, and he finally managed to get his weapon back, pushing her aside and leaping to his feet. He pointed it at the Doctor and asked triumphantly, "Who's slow now, Doctor?"

Ashildr kicked his feet out from under him and pulled the pistol away from his hands once more, aiming it at his head. The Doctor grabbed the pistols of the two accomplices and yanked them from the men's fingers, dropping them to the ground. "Good question" he replied to Sam, as the two other men backed away from him.

"Please, Knightmare, I don't want to die" Sam pleaded, his bravado fleeing because he knew the Knightmare had a terrifying reputation for a reason, "Let's have honour amongst us".

"Also, can you confirm that I'm not your dad?"

"What do you say, 'dad'?" Ashildr asked the Doctor, rather sarcastically, "Should I kill him? He'll be dead in a minute. What difference does it make?" she wondered callously.

The Doctor's eyes hardened and he stared her down. "Kill him, and you make an enemy of me".

Ashildr held his gaze for a few moments longer, and then lowered the pistol away from Sam's head. "Run" she ordered. Sam didn't hesitate; he scrambled to his feet and sprinted away, with his accomplices close on his heels. Ashildr picked her own pistol up and stuck it in her holster, before placing Sam's pistol in her jacket. She didn't meet the Doctor's gaze. "I know their lives are short" he told her, "I understand, but those lives _do_ matter".

"Shut up" she grumbled, heading off down the path again, "You're not my dad".

/

Whilst the Doctor and Ashildr were off house-breaking, which disappointed the Corsair somewhat as he felt like he'd have done a better job, he persuaded Flavia to change into one of Ashildr's spare dresses and 'blend in with the locals'. "I'm sure she won't mind" he'd reasoned, "She probably has loads of dresses, she's not going to miss just one. I mean, it didn't matter in the dark, but you can't really walk around in trousers in the 1600s, can you?"

Flavia had to agree, so she left the Corsair to amuse himself whilst she found clothes to wear that fit in better with the time period. Her own outfit she folded up and tucked into a small bag she'd brought with her; it was bigger on the inside, naturally. Once she seemed presentable enough, Flavia carefully walked back downstairs, pausing at the top of the main staircase. The Corsair was pacing back and forth along the entrance hall, whistling to himself. Flavia cleared her throat. "How do I look?"

The Corsair looked at her; she was wearing a deep blue corseted gown, with thin silvery filigree around the hem and shoulders, puffy sleeves in a lighter shade and her black hair tied up in a French twist. His jaw dropped. " _Wow_ ".

She blushed a little – well, actually a lot – and held up the hem as she carefully made her way down the stairs. "It's nothing special" she said modestly.

"Sure it is; you're wearing it".

Now she was blushing even more, the pink flush of her cheeks standing out in sharp contrast to her light skin and dark hair. "Oh, honestly…you think you're such a charmer" she protested, though not very earnestly.

"Err, no,I _know_ I'm charming" the Corsair corrected with a smirk, "And devilishly handsome, yes, thank you for noticing" he added, his smirk becoming a grin when Flavia snickered a bit. "I'm serious, though, Flavia. You look amazing".

"Thank you" she smiled at him, "Thank you for the compliment, and….and for everything else. For being so considerate, giving me space the last few weeks; I really appreciate it".

He blinked at her, mildly surprised. "Uh, you're welcome…I just, y'know, I didn't want to scare you off. I mean, not that I was hoping that you'd – I mean, I was, but I – I mean, it's awkward but I just"- Flavia giggled as the Corsair became more and more tongue-tied, but she knew what he was trying to say.

"I know" she said gently, admitting, "And I really do appreciate you not pushing me to change my mind, about us…whatever happens, it's nice for us to be friends, if nothing else".

"Yeah, you're right" he nodded in agreement. There was a brief lull in the conversation as they both tried to think of something more to say. Wanting to change the subject, the Corsair cleared his throat and remarked, "It's nice that you want Ashildr to be your companion…bit surprising, as well".

Flavia gave him a puzzled look and inquired, "How so? I know I've not had a companion before, but that's only because I haven't met the right person, I suppose".

"Are you sure Ashildr is the right person?" the Corsair asked cautiously, "I mean, I trust your judgement, but from what I've gathered having a companion is a big deal. Not everyone is cut out for our kind of life...it's not surprising because of that, though. It's just, well…Ashildr is a fixed point in time. She's like Jack, she shouldn't be living right now, but she is. I know, it's our fault – well, more mine and the Doctor's, but still. Don't you remember him telling us how the TARDIS set her own co-ordinates to the end of the universe trying to get away from Jack?"

"Yes, I remember" she nodded, "And I also remember him saying the TARDIS ended up getting captured by the Master. Running away from one's problems tends to create more of them further down the line" she declared sagely. A thoughtful frown creased her brow as she considered, "Do you suppose that's why he was so against her coming with us? Oh, but that doesn't make sense. He's spent plenty of time with Jack and not seemed bothered by anything".

"Well, sure, we've all got used to Jack" the Corsair agreed, "And we could get used to Ashildr, but the thing is, Jack isn't there all the time. Ashildr would be, and she does give off a weird feeling. It's like she's…not there". It was hard to describe the sensation of a living fixed point...the timelines that normally flowed through, around and within the cosmos avoided Ashildr, similarly to how they avoided Jack. They could see, hear and touch Ashildr just fine, but their time sense didn't register her; or rather, it registered her as a fixed point, an anomaly; a negative space that existed and yet didn't exist.

With a sigh, Flavia reluctantly admitted, "Yes, it is an uncomfortable feeling…but we can hardly hold that against her. I believe Jack once mentioned he'd called the Doctor prejudiced, and in a way he was right. If we can't overlook something that Ashildr cannot help, no matter how strange it feels, then we really are being prejudiced…I'm not just doing this out of guilt, or to try and make up for what we did to her, you know. She was such a sweet girl, Ashildr…the Doctor said it himself, who she used to be is still in there somewhere".

"Yeah, I suppose…tell you what, why don't you wait until this adventure's over, and then ask her again. Maybe the Doctor will have changed his mind by then, and Ashildr will get an idea of how we do things" the Corsair suggested reasonably. Flavia resisted the urge to remark how unusual it was for him to be the reasonable one, and nodded in agreement.

"Very well…speaking of them, I thought they'd have been back by now. You don't think they're in trouble, do you?"

"Relax; they can take care of themselves. Well….I'm sure Ashildr can take care of them both. Come to think of it, if she does come with us, what are you going to call her? I mean, are you going to call her Ashildr, or are you going to call her Me?"

"I can't call her 'Corsair', that's your name" Flavia replied calmly, with a perfectly straight face. The Corsair gaped at her a bit, and laughed.

"You're a lot more fun when you loosen up a bit, you know. Makes me wonder what you'd be like drunk".

"You would" Flavia rolled her eyes, but she was smiling nonetheless. "As for what I'd call her, if she wants to be called Me, then I will" she added, before clearing her throat and inquiring, "So, what do you want to do in the meantime?"

The Corsair shrugged. "Hide and seek?"

/

The Doctor and Ashildr had made it back to the manor; Ashildr had gone to change out of her Knightmare outfit, and given the Doctor strict instructions not to mess with anything in the house. He called up the stairs, "I have a theory about the amulet".

There was no reply from Ashildr, nor from his fellow pilots, who were somewhere in the manor. A door opened off the servant's area and an elderly man stepped through, coughing and clearing his throat. He blinked and peered at the Doctor. "Morning, sir" he greeted politely, "Forgive me, but might I enquire into who you are?"

"The Doctor" he answered bluntly.

"Clayton, sir" the elderly manservant introduced himself, "I assume you are another guest of Lady Me?"

"Yes, I am. Have you met the other two? Where are they?"

"Doctor?" asked Flavia from the top of the staircase, before Clayton could answer, making her way down them, "Sorry, I didn't realise you were back. Where's Ashildr?"

"Getting changed" he answered, "Where's the Corsair?"

"Not sure. We were playing hide and seek" she explained as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

The Doctor stared at her. "We can sense each other's presence" he pointed out.

"Yes, I know, but I was trying to suppress that. I suppose there's no point now" she sighed, closing her eyes and mentally reaching out to contact the Corsair, telling him that the Doctor and Ashildr had returned. _I'll be there in a few minutes_ he replied, _And hooray, I win!_

Ashildr appeared at the top of the stairs, coming from the opposite direction to Flavia. She was dressed in a fuschia coloured gown with white lace trim, every bit the proper Elizabethan lady. She looked at Flavia and blinked in surprise. "Is that one of mine?"

"Oh, uh, yes. I hope you don't mind".

"No, keep it. It looks good on you".

Clayton cleared his throat again and inquired, "Would you care for a cocktail, milady?"

"Oh, yes, please" she nodded, raising her voice somewhat, and he returned to the servants area, coughing.

"Is he alright?" Flavia asked in concern, wondering if perhaps the poor man was ill.

"He's old" Ashildr answered bluntly, as if the problem were obvious, "Half blind and deaf as a post. He is no use any more really, but…" she trailed off with a sigh.

"You keep him on" the Doctor finished for her, smiling, "See, you do have a heart. You don't fool us".

"How do I look?" she asked instead, ignoring his last comment.

"You look lovely" Flavia replied with a smile.

"You look pink" the Doctor corrected, "Are you coming down with something?"

"What did I miss?" the Corsair asked as he hurried into the hall. The Doctor held out the amulet; Flavia and the Corsair's eyes widened in shock. "Whoa, is that the Eyes of Hades?"

"Yes. Now, why would an alien artefact resemble the Eyes of Hades, King of the Underworld?" the Doctor asked Ashildr; she plucked the amulet from his fingers and led the way into the dining room, placing the amulet in her drawstring purse. The others followed her, and the Doctor continued, "An ancient Greek talisman which wards off evil and protects those in death on their journey to an afterlife?"

"You tell me" Ashildr responded impatiently.

"Yeah, don't leave us in suspense" the Corsair added cheerfully.

"Could it be that the mythology originated on another planet?"

Flavia rolled her eyes a bit. "Of course it could" she insisted, "The Osirins inspired Egyptian Gods, the Nimon inspired Greek legends….I suppose the question is, _which_ planet it originated from" she finished, looking thoughtful.

"None of you can wait to go and find out, I'll wager" said Ashildr.

"Actually, I think we ought to stick around, and keep an eye on you for a while" the Doctor replied; Flavia raised an eyebrow and reminded him, "Weren't you the one who didn't want her to come with us?"

"I didn't say anything about her coming with us".

"Well, we'd be able to keep an eye on her if she did, wouldn't we?" Flavia challenged…then she realised how that sounded, and quickly assured Ashildr, "Not that I think you _need_ keeping an eye on".

"That's alright, I didn't take any offence" Ashildr replied, before turning to the Doctor and asking, "So what is your plan? To inspire me, get me back on track?"

"Something along those lines, yes".

"Then take me with you".

"It isn't up to him" Flavia insisted, before the Doctor could protest, "The offer to be my companion is still open, Ashildr".

"I told you, I'm not Ashildr anymore…but yes, I'll accept your offer" the former Viking girl smiled gratefully.

"Err, now, let's not be too hasty" the Doctor said quickly, trying to steer the conversation back into a better direction. Both women stared at him with accusing, unnervingly similar looks, and he turned to the only other male in the room with a bit of desperation. "Corsair, back me"-

"Oh no" the Corsair said quickly, holding his hands up, "I'm staying out of this".

 _So much for manly solidarity_ the Doctor thought, disappointed… _Wait, is that even a thing? Oh, never mind._ "Look, I'm just saying…Flavia, the four of us agreed, remember, if we took on companions we'd _all_ agree on who to choose".

"Since when do we ever all agree?" she countered, "As I recall, the agreement was that if one of us had a _legitimate_ reason to not think someone should travel on the TARDIS, whoever invited them would reconsider. So, what's your legitimate reason? I assume it has something to do with Ashildr's immortality" she guessed; it was the only somewhat reasonable explanation she could think of. Of course, this was the Doctor she was talking about.

"My immortality?" the young-yet-old woman frowned in puzzlement, "Why would that be a problem?"

Flavia bit her lip; she hadn't wanted to bring this up, but she supposed it needed to be explained. "Well, you see…as Time Lords, we are aware of timelines, and most of time is in flux but there are fixed points. Being immortal, you have essentially become a living fixed point in time. It's as if you're here, and yet not here at the same time…it's difficult to explain" she admitted, when Ashildr just looked more confused, "But it isn't a problem…or at least, it shouldn't be. We have a friend who's immortal; it took a bit of time getting used to it, but we have no trouble with him".

"We could hook you up" the Doctor suddenly suggested, "He'll flirt with anyone. You could even join Torchwood, defend planet Earth from aliens...err, no, wait…it's too early…" he trailed off with a frown.

"For Torchwood?" guessed Flavia, "Only two hundred or so years too early…and Jack didn't even become captain until the 20th century".

"I suppose we could give her a lift".

"Why give me a lift to this 'Torchwood' when you could give me a lift to the stars?" Ashildr challenged him, "I want to fly. I have waited longer than I should ever have lived. I have lost more than I can even remember. Please, Doctor, just get me out of this. I want more than this. I deserve more than this. Why not? You heard Flavia. What is your problem with me?"

The Doctor sighed. "It's not that you're a fixed point…it isn't even as strong with you, I can sense timelines around you, and so can they. You're wondering why _I'm_ denying her this chance, Flavia, but what _I'm_ wondering is why you're denying the sense you must be getting from her".

"Perhaps I'm just willing to overlook any reservations I have in favour of helping someone in need. Isn't that what you normally do?"

"This isn't just a reservation!" he protested, getting frustrated, "Ashildr, the timelines are converging on you. You are important somehow, I get the sense that…that you need to be on Earth, that something will happen that needs you to be here".

"Is that it? You'd deny me the chance to escape, because of a gut feeling?" Ashildr demanded crossly. Before the Doctor could respond, there was a loud snarl and the sound of a door slamming shut. The others jumped and looked over to where the Corsair was standing against the doors leading to the main hall, looking somewhat alarmed.

"Err, Me, not mentioning Clayton is one thing, but why do"- he was cut off as something behind the door shoved against it, making him stumble forwards. He turned and pulled out his blaster, keeping it trained on a bipedal, leonine alien that strode into the room, the yellow light in its eyes fading.

"Ah, yes, my apologies" Ashildr remarked, stepping over to the creature, "Leandro, meet the Doctor, Corsair and Flavia. You thought I was helping you, Doctor; in fact, it was the other way around. Leandro, we have it. My friend here was as useful as I'd hoped".

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that he wants the amulet" the Corsair surmised, lowering his blaster but keeping a grip on it.

"Why didn't you or he just ask for our help?" Flavia asked, with a concerned frown.

"Personally, I'm forced to assume you have plans I wouldn't approve of" the Doctor suggested. Ashildr didn't reply, so he stepped towards Leandro and said bluntly, "Kill me!"

Everyone stared at him; Leandro frowned and demanded, "Why?"

"If you intend any harm to this planet or its people, then killing me is by far your best move".

"What are we?" the Corsair frowned, gesturing between himself and Flavia, "Chocolate teapots?"

"I didn't think you'd appreciate being singled out".

"You invite your own death?" Leandro demanded incredulously.

"No, I just want you to attack first; then my conscience is clear".

"Of what?"

"You" the Doctor answered bluntly. He had no intention of actually getting killed, Romana would kill him…again…but if he was attacked first, he'd just be defending himself if he had to hurt the alien, wouldn't he?

Leandro gave a short, rasping chuckle. "You and your allies are not of this world, or part of my plans. I have no quarrel with any of you".

"Then tell us why you are here and what you intend to do".

"I am from Delta Leonis. My tribe was overthrown, my world destroyed, my wife killed as we escaped".

"Using the amulet?" the Doctor guessed, "That was your means of travel".

"I lost it when I crashed to Earth".

"I found him in my grounds. He's been sleeping there while I searched for it" Ashildr explained.

"Okay, but what do you need it for?" asked Flavia.

"We need it to open a portal, travel the galaxy".

"Wait, hang on" the Corsair frowned, "If you were planning to use the amulet to get off Earth, why would you ask to travel with us? I mean, it's not like you could invite your friend here along as well".

"He only wants to find another world to live on; he knows what it is to be alone".

"I'm looking for the headline here" the Doctor remarked.

"The what?"

"Well, you know, you want to escape? Well, go on. Escape as much as you like. Why would I not approve?"

"The amulet; a death is required".

"To make it work?" Flavia frowned, "I suppose that's to be expected of an amulet called the Eyes of Hades…how does that even work, though?"

"Every single death is a tiny fracture in reality, and the amulet can lever the fracture open" the Doctor explained, "Primitive, but effective".

"It's just exploiting an abundant resource. There's so much dying here".

"Starting to see why you thought we wouldn't approve" the Corsair remarked, "I'm assuming you weren't planning to just wait for someone to die".

"I've waited long enough" Ashildr retorted, before looking over her shoulder and calling, "Clayton?!"

"Coming, milady!"

Flavia's eyes widened. "You can't – he cares about you! Ashildr, you don't have to do this".

"I am _not_ Ashildr anymore! I do have to do this, Flavia; the Doctor won't accept me, he's made that very clear".

"I do accept you, I just don't think you belong on the TARDIS".

"Then if you sentence me to death in life again, I shall find my own way to the afterlife, and Clayton will help. He loves me…to the end, it would seem".

"You're not like this" Flavia shook her head, "I know you're not. What happened to you?"

Ashildr simply pointed at the Doctor and replied brusquely, "He did".


	19. Cancellation

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

Gosh…it's been a while.

I know this won't be the message a lot of you wanted to see…or perhaps it is. In any case, I thought it would be better to give this message sooner rather than later. I know I said that I planned to eventually finish the stories I have put on hiatus, but the truth is, I don't think that I can : (.

My muse has entirely moved onto other things, and my interest in Doctor Who has flagged with the hiatus and the less than stellar quality of the recent episodes. I don't have much hope for the upcoming series, whilst I will possibly give the first couple of episodes a watch, it may be that it isn't a show I'll ever watch as regularly as I once did. I will always consider myself a Whovian at heart, and I don't regret enjoying what was once a fantastic, exciting show with characters I felt invested in…it's just that the investment, for me, has run its course.

I ought to be focusing on real life more than on fanfiction (at least a little bit ;) ) and having to do not one, but two rewrites (Consequences and Alterations) of a show that I no longer have any real passion for, would be time consuming, boring and unsatisfactory. It would affect my writing and your enjoyment. I have decided to cancel both my Doctor Who fanfictions, and I apologise profusely for the inconvenience.

For my cliché 'self-insert plus a friend' fanfic, Alterations, I have received 41 reviews, 14 favourites, and 22 follows. I am grateful for all of them and I'm sorry to anyone who began following the story between when I stopped writing it and this.

For 'The Doctor's Wife AU' series, as a whole, I have received 562 reviews, 231 favourites, and 172 follows. Once again, I am grateful for all of them and sorry for the inconvenience and disappointment.

Instead, allow me to explain what I had planned, as little as it was, for these stories:

Consequences

1 – Ashildr would have chosen, in the end, to remain on Earth for the same reason as in the episode – to deal with the aftermath of the Time Quintet's, mostly the Doctor's, interventions.

2 - The Corsair would have regenerated in 'The Zygon Inversion' whilst saving Flavia from an attack. I planned to have him regenerate into the Shopkeeper from the Sarah Jane Adventures (rest in peace Elisabeth Sladen) because Neil Gaiman and Russel T Davies both had a headcanon of sorts that the Shopkeeper is the Corsair. The new Corsair would have done a much better job at wooing Flavia, who would have finally agreed to try starting a relationship.

3 – I planned to replace Sleep No More (the dud of series 9) with an original chapter involving the Corsair and Flavia tying up loose ends after he realises who he is now, and getting a pet parrot. Parrots are cool (I had to do that).

4 – Rather than Clara taking the chronolock from Rigsy, Emily would insist on taking it. She would have believed herself safe due to simply being able to regenerate, only to discover that there was a high possibility the regeneration wouldn't occur. She would refuse to let any of them watch; the Doctor would run out at the last minute, only to find that she had disappeared. He would angrily confront Ashildr about where his daughter was, but she would protest that Emily was just gone and there was nothing she could do.

5 – The Doctor would still end up trapped in the Confession Dial, whilst the others would be taken directly to Gallifrey. After losing her daughter and then her husband, a grieving Romana would do anything to get either of them back. She, Flavia and the Corsair would plan to find a way to rescue the Doctor from the Confession Dial, and find out where Emily's body could have gone.

6 – They would eventually figure out that they needed to prove there was no Hybrid, or if there was, that it wasn't the Doctor. I never got as far as figuring out exactly _how_ they'd do that, but they would. A thoroughly pissed off Doctor, released from the Dial, would proceed to kill – not exile, simply kill – Rassilon (because sometimes you just can't let your enemies live) and rescue Emily the same way he rescued Clara in canon.

7 – Much like Clara, Emily would be stuck between heartbeats, on the line between life and death. Things would play out much as they did in the episode, but with the Corsair stealing a TARDIS for himself and Flavia. Rather than having to forget Clara (who at this point would be at home, waiting for news), the Doctor would end up having his memories of his time in the Dial removed.

8 – Emily would return to her place of 'death', and with a bit of timey wimey trickery, they would slow time around her so that she was still gone when the Doctor's past-self came out. To their surprise, she actually does regenerate (into a ginger, much to her father's mild annoyance) and insists on leaving straightaway, now far less willing to take risks with time or with herself, after what she inadvertently put her family through.

9 – They would reunite with Clara, and Emily would persuade her to build a life on Earth, that they wanted her to be safe and it could have easily been Clara who died, and she wouldn't have come back. Naturally, Clara would have been sad to see them go, but reluctantly agreed to leave the TARDIS behind. She still wanted them to drop in every now and then for dinner, and they agreed.

10 – After discovering that River had a habit of nicking the TARDIS for her own convenience (much to the Corsair's amusement), the Time Quintet would bid a final goodbye to her; then the Doctor, Romana and Emily would go off in his TARDIS, whilst the Corsair and Flavia would begin adventures in their own TARDIS (which still has a working chameleon circuit).

How to Raise a Time Tot

The only chapter(s) I had planned for this was a suggestion by jg16395, to have the Time Quintet take a trip to Terminus, to meet Nyssa so that Flavia could have a hearts-to-heart with someone who knew what it was like to lose their home planet (apart from her fellow Time Lords/Lady, obviously). I really liked the idea and whilst I never got around to planning it out fully, there would have been fluff ;).

Alterations

Not much would have changed – the girls would have gotten home at the end of The 50th special, after the War Doctor used the 'same software, different case' trick to set his TARDIS to search for their home universe centuries before he actually met them. It would finish a couple of centuries before he met them as well. There would have been an original chapter of them dealing with the aftermath of being away for almost a year.

/

So there you have it, folks. I'm glad that you enjoyed this ride whilst it lasted, and I wish it hadn't ended, but life goes on and things that we thought would be part of it for ages fade away. I enjoyed writing what I did, and I want to leave on a positive note. So thank you so, so much for your reviews, follows and favourites, for your support and your understanding…and once more, for perhaps the final time, vworp on, Whovians.


End file.
